Employer Letterhead
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Date
The Honorable (name of your judge)
United States District Court Judge
(Name of your judicial district)
(Address of your judicial district)
City of your judicial district, state, zip
Regarding: U.S.—v—Your name and case number
Dear Judge (last name):
It is my understanding that you are the presiding judge in the case involving X. Please consider this letter as a testament to my understanding of his good character.
I am the owner of the car wash where X has been working for the past three years. I’ve had the opportunity to watch X closely as he interacted with customers and with other employees. I view him as an honest, conscientious person, and he will have a job with me when he is able to put this problem behind him.
Of his own accord, X came to visit me in my office. I could see that he was emotionally overwhelmed. He broke down as he told me the details of his crime, the way that he had disappointed our community, and the pain inflicted on others as a result of his bad decision. I could see that he was sincere, embarrassed, ashamed, and remorseful. He volunteered to resign from the job.
I have been in business for longer than 30 years. During that time, I have had many employees who, unfortunately, have gotten into trouble with the law. Yet X is the only person I have seen who has taken such personal accountability. I’ve never known him to make excuses, or to blame anyone but himself for the problems he caused.
We all have chapters in our lives that we’d like to forget. But we all don’t act as responsibly as I’ve seen X respond to these challenges. Besides working long hours to make ends meet, he faithfully goes to AA meetings to get control of his addictions. He volunteers at the local homeless shelter, he says, because it’s the only way that he knows how to start making amends to society.
Over the course of time that he has been in my employ, I have observed countless times when X put the company’s interest ahead of his own. He is scrupulously honest when handling cash sales, even though he could have had many opportunities to abscond with money. If there was ever an individual that I would trust with my business, it would be X, which is why I will hire him when he is finished.
I sincerely hope that I have helped you to know X better. You will have a lot of information about the crime, but I only know him as a good person. It’s my hope that he will finish with his criminal justice problems soon.
Sincerely,
[Name of Employer]