This episode comes from a rough week—the kind where you know exactly what to do and still don't do it.

I record this after getting a call no one wants. Months earlier, someone in the community said he was cooperating and his lawyer told him that was enough. Probation. No prison. I pushed back and pointed him to an interview with Paul Bertrand, the FBI agent who arrested me. Bertrand said something that stuck: in his entire career, only one person avoided prison because of cooperation alone.

I urged this person to prepare anyway. Build a record. Make amends. Don't treat cooperation like insurance. He didn't listen. He trusted the lawyer. Trusted that his case was "different."

Then the text came during dinner. Two years.

This episode breaks down a hard truth people don't want to hear. Cooperation can shorten a sentence, but it rarely keeps you out of prison by itself. Judges look for more than information. They look for proof that you won't be back.

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Justin Paperny