How to Discuss Other Participants Without Deflecting Responsibility
Direct answer: An accurate account can describe other participants while identifying your own decisions. Review the facts with counsel, avoid speculation about anyone else’s motives, and do not use another person’s conduct to minimize your own.
Separate role facts from blame
The ABA interview questions include whether other people were involved. That question can be difficult when a defendant feels less responsible than others. The useful starting point is a factual chronology: what you did, what you observed and what you knew at each stage. An accusation about someone else is not a substitute for that account.
Keep uncertainty visible
You may know that a meeting occurred without knowing what everyone intended. You may have learned facts later that you did not know at the time. Keep those categories separate. Counsel needs to review both the accuracy of the account and its implications before you discuss offense conduct.
Practice clarity rather than a preferred story
Preparation should expose contradictions, not teach you how to conceal them. If a document differs from your memory, bring it to counsel. If you cannot answer a question accurately, say so. The objective is a truthful, legally coordinated account that neither shifts responsibility nor expands it through unsupported guesses.
Preparation checklist
- My action: what I personally did.
- My knowledge: what I knew at that time.
- My observation: what I directly saw or heard.
- Later information: what I learned afterward.
- Unresolved issue: what counsel needs to review.
Does accepting responsibility mean agreeing with every allegation?
Your attorney should advise how to address disputed allegations. Honest accountability does not require guessing or treating every allegation as an established fact.
Published analysis behind this resource
This resource adapts preparation principles from Joseph’s published analysis. Publication does not imply publisher endorsement of Sentencing Advocacy Group.
Continue with the related SAG guide, explore the published work, or read Client Results & Experiences.
Discuss the next preparation step
Joseph De Gregorio has been retained in more than 500 federal cases. Contact Sentencing Advocacy Group to discuss preparation alongside defense counsel.