Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page A7

DemocratandChronicle.com Friday, December 14, 2012 Page 7A Sentence reductions seen locally Official contends terms are longer than average sentence recommendations, a cooperation agreement is one way to trim some of the time of imprisonment, Pullano said. It's important to determine early in a criminal case whether a defendant has information that can lead to a cooperation pact, Pullano said. "When one of these multiple defendants cases comes down, it seems like it's almost a race to see who can get in the door first (and cooperate)," he said. GCRAIGDemocratandChronicle.com Twitter.comgcraig1 surprised by the numbers. Partly, he said, comparisons are tough because some districts will not have William Hochul Jr.

as many multi-defendant cases, in which cooperation agreements are common. Texas districts, for instance, have among the lowest rate of sentence reductions. But many of their thousands of cases are immigration-related cases that often involve a lone defendant and no possibil ity of cooperation. Sometimes the only way to crack drug gangs and other criminal operations is through cooperation from the criminals themselves, Hochul said. "One of the only ways you can really prosecute people who are in a big violent criminal enterprise is to get cooperation from those in the violent criminal enterprise," he said.

According to data from the 2012 federal fiscal year, the sentencing in the Western District of New York was tougher than the average, Hochul said. The district had a smaller percentage of sentences on the low end and a greater percentage of long sentences. For instance, more than 34 percent of criminals sentenced in the district received sentences of 61 months or longer. The national average was just over 26 percent. Local defense lawyer Peter Pullano said he talks to clients about possible cooperation, recognizing there could be dangers if an individual is portrayed as a "snitch." "It's always worth looking into," Pullano said about cooperation agreements.

For defendants looking at particularly long sentences under the advisory other data show that the federal criminal sentences in the Western District of New York are longer than the average. According to the USA Today data, just over 27 percent of the sentenced criminals between 2006 and 2011 in the Western District received reduced sentences for their cooperation. That rate is among the highest in federal court districts. Hochul said he wasn't name from consideration Rice removes Associated Press WASHINGTON Susan Rice has withdrawn her name from consideration to be the next secretary of state after the embattled U.N. ambassador ran into a standoff with Republicans over an attack on Americans in Libya.

President Barack Oba-ma, in a statement, said he accepted Rice's decision to remove her name from consideration. Oba- ma decried what he called "unfair and misleading attacks" on Rice in recent weeks. A person familiar with the deliberations said support has been trending away from Rice for the past few days. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is perceived internally to be the front-runner for the secretary of state position.

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By Jason Kole, Nine West, Kenneth Cole and more. Wool- or down-blend styles. Misses. Gary Craig Staff writer Federal courts in the Western District of New York appear to grant an unusually high number of sentence reductions for criminals who cooperate, according to data compiled by USA Today. But federal prosecutors here don't portray the region as one that's particularly soft in sentencing.

Instead, U.S. Attorney William Hochul Jr. said Traffic Continued from Page 1A average of $3.77 in the Buffalo area, $3.73 in the Rochester area, and $3.66 in the Syracuse area as of Thursday. The price of gas nationally could be close to the average of $3.23 a gallon that drivers paid last Christmas Day. The price has dropped about 50 cents since September.

AAA estimates the average price will range between $3.20 and $3.40 a gallon by New Year's Day, according to AAA. That's pricey, but hardly a deterrent to holiday travel. "The year-end holiday season remains the least volatile of all travel holidays as Americans will not let economic conditions or high gas prices dictate if they go home for the holidays or kick off the New Year with a vacation," says AAA president and CEO Robert Darbelnet. Area travelers hitting the roads late next week should expect high temperatures in the upper 30s, and a 30 percent chance of rain and snow next Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo. Meteorologist David Thomas said it's too soon to tell if any major weather events will disrupt holiday travel next weekend.

The travel forecast done by IHS Global Insight for AAA, one of the nation's largest leisure travel agencies, is based on interviews with 655 Americans and factors in estimates about the overall health of the economy. While about 1 million more people will drive, fewer will travel by plane. Airlines for America, the industry's trade group, estimates that about 15 million people will fly between Dec. 17 and Jan. 6.

The group says there will be 42 million segments a takeoff and landing flown by passengers. That's about 300,000, or 1 percent, fewer segments than last year. Planes will also be fuller than last Christmas. The group's chief economist John Heimlich expects 86 percent of seats to be filled with paying passengers, up from 85 percent last year. That number could climb to 90 percent on the busiest days: the weekend before Christmas, the day after Christmas and Jan.

2. Once fliers arrive, they'll pay more for hotels and car rentals. AAA three diamond lodgings are forecast to cost $129 a night, up $3 from last year. Two diamond properties are also up $3 a night to $95. Daily car rental rates will average $56, compared to $40 last year.

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