Some what of a legal questione with sentencing

[Donzi]

i have a friend who made some bad decisions about 3 yrs ago and was charged with a drug charge Shedule III. he has no priors and has not even had a speeding ticket since the date. He has been in compliance with everything the court has order including drug testing with not 1 issue. We were talking and trying to figure out what the chances of him not doing time are. The question arose as to who decides the time or punishment? Does the judge or does he go by the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney. There is already a guilty plea enterd by his attorney so his sentencing is coming up and Im trying to help him out with possible outcomes. I told him it cant be any worse than the death penalty and any better than you walk without a felony. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[swoleup57]

Don't know where your located but most states have diversion programs, like a probation and if completed satisfactorily the charge will usually be gone. Just depends how the DA or judge is feeling towards the whole issue.

 

[PeterBobJohn]

i have a friend who made some bad decisions about 3 yrs ago and was charged with a drug charge Shedule III. he has no priors and has not even had a speeding ticket since the date. He has been in compliance with everything the court has order including drug testing with not 1 issue. We were talking and trying to figure out what the chances of him not doing time are. The question arose as to who decides the time or punishment? Does the judge or does he go by the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney. There is already a guilty plea enterd by his attorney so his sentencing is coming up and Im trying to help him out with possible outcomes. I told him it cant be any worse than the death penalty and any better than you walk without a felony. Any input would be appreciated.

Is this federal or state?
Feds have sentencing guidelines they follow but judge has full discretion as the guidelines have eroded over the last few years

 

[Donzi]

Is this federal or state?
Feds have sentencing guidelines they follow but judge has full discretion as the guidelines have eroded over the last few years

Its Federal. We talked about the sentencing guidelines but both agree they dont really mean shit. There just that, a guideline but in most cases aren't followed. It started at a 5yr possible max sentence but has been dropped to a 3 yr or less but that is still a wide range.

 

[h8tr3d]

was he dealing, or was it just personal use? And if you already posted, im sorry for repeating, but what part of the world did this happen in roughly?

 

[bloons]

i have a friend who made some bad decisions about 3 yrs ago and was charged with a drug charge Shedule III. he has no priors and has not even had a speeding ticket since the date. He has been in compliance with everything the court has order including drug testing with not 1 issue. We were talking and trying to figure out what the chances of him not doing time are. The question arose as to who decides the time or punishment? Does the judge or does he go by the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney. There is already a guilty plea enterd by his attorney so his sentencing is coming up and Im trying to help him out with possible outcomes. I told him it cant be any worse than the death penalty and any better than you walk without a felony. Any input would be appreciated.

Was this in ORD ? The probation department will do a pre-sentencing investigation on him or her and chances are the judge witll go by that. I hope for the best for your friend.

bloons

 

[Mr.Bungle]

Really to hard to say. But alot is up to the judge.

 

[swervedriver]

Ok, so if its a fed case, there are certain mandatory sentencing guidelines that the judge must follow... however, it is up to his discretion as to what the exact sentencing will be... it also has to do with prior criminal history as well... I have dealt mostly with state level prosecutions and the judge is given the defendant's level for sentencing purposes, which is determined by the number of prior convictions....

Being that I do not know the details of your friends conviction it is hard to say what he will get in terms of sentencing... however, being that it is a fed court, I suspect that he will have to pull some prison time...

That having been said, I hope the best for your friend.. If he's got a good atty, then that will make a HUGE difference in the pending outcome...

 

[Chuck999]

Fed is rough. The guidelines are not "mandatory" anymore thank god, but most judges still stay somewhere in them. I do defense work, and am former fed pros. A simple poss of controled substances in most major metro areas would not even mean time at the state level. However, fed is tougher - you didn't say what the Sched III was. That will make a difference. Also, if there are substance abuse issues and he is getting treatment, etc. that will usually help. I definitely wish your friend luck. The drug laws in this country are just nuts. We have more people locked up per capita than ANY country in the world (mostly for drug or drug related cases). Most of the "recreational" controlled substances are very bad news as we all know, and they cause some terrible damage to the people using them and everybody around them. But what we have is a public health problem, not a criminal problem. Great Britain basically decriminalized drug charges a number of years back, and all their other crime, including violent crime, dropped drastically.

 

[Donzi]

It was a Federal case involving Steroids. Is there a chance that the 3 yrs of pre trial probation could be counted as part of the probation that is thrown at him on top of whatever else is given? Kind of like a time served obviously not counting for jail time. There was no substance abuse recomended, just continuous random drug testing and compliances which have been completed to a T.
thank you for your information.

 

[ape_man_escaped]

True, the federal guide lines are to be followed by the judge. They go by class of crime, what level of a criminal u are..... they look at a sheet and then what ever type of crime it was and type of criminal u are determines your sentence. But since they passed the (booker, blackley case) in 2006. which under my understanding gives the judge the discussion to go over the guidlines if he sees fit or under the guidlines. And then a good lawyer and all that play into an effect. remember lawyers are worse about cutting deals the what criminals are. ask me how i know......

 

[ZILLAMAN]

It was a Federal case involving Steroids. Is there a chance that the 3 yrs of pre trial probation could be counted as part of the probation that is thrown at him on top of whatever else is given? Kind of like a time served obviously not counting for jail time. There was no substance abuse recomended, just continuous random drug testing and compliances which have been completed to a T.
thank you for your information.

it depends how much was involed is the question, and if your friend has a good Attorney i feel he has a pretty good chance of getting more probation and doing what he is doing for them untill prob is done, but you never no.....

 

[minister]

they look at everything, amounts, was he distributing? If it was just possession, he'll walk easily with some supervision, but if it's intent of delivery is a different thing, I hope it all works out> God bless you. Minister.

 

[mike ross]

depends on many factors, had a friend go through this few years ago with feds and ghb...its totally up to the judge. pretrial and the prosecutor make recommendations. judge takes all facts, letters, compliance, crime, previous criminal history into account, lawyer can highlight things for judge,etc...but in the end if the judge had a bad day, they can throw the book at you...he was a pretty straight guy and got 2.5years for ghb when he should have gotten more for what he was doing. he did almost all of it.

recently, the feds are now letting people apply for release with 1 year left on the sentence. this used to be 6 months, now they increased it to a year, so he may do very little time. btw, they dont take into account time before trial in most cases. took him 2 years to make trial and it had no effect on his sentence..

 

[JerBear1980]

just heard of some sex offender in orlando only getting 6months for touching little boys in a public bathroom....gotta make room for the people using steroids i guess. :banghead:

 

[triathloncoach]

You are asking for opinions w/o supply key information

Was he dealing or not? Big time or just to a few buddies? Why did he plead guilty? No body pleads guilty to what they were caught for. Did he get snagged for something big and plead it down to something small? In that case it makes sense to end up on the harsher end of the sentencing scale for the lessor crime. I'd rather get 2 years for possession than 3 for dealing. Class 3? Is that pleading guilty to a class 3 felony? I'm guessing that was not what he was originally charged with.

I love the Wire. Their code of business was genius. Drug Dealers go to jail if they get caught. It's part of the game. And if they dont get caught I dont begruge them one bit for all the cash they make on their mark ups. Or the women or whatever you get as a successful drug dealer. It's all part of the game.

So based on the limited information you have shared, how can anyone give you advice??

But, aside from the above, I hope your friend stays out of jail. I believe all drugs should be legalized and regulated. It's INSANE (a fucking crazy use of my tax dollars) that your friend may go to jail - to me. But those are the rules. You don't like the rules, try to change them.

 

[ICU11b]

I had some friends take the wrong path... They were hit with the federal minimum mandatory for their actions. 15years... They never were given the option of receiving less time(maybe if they cooperated). And they spent over a 100k each on their defense. They were looking at 15 & got 15(& 1 concurrent for the firearm).

 

[triathloncoach]

I had some friends take the wrong path... They were hit with the federal minimum mandatory for their actions. 15years... They never were given the option of receiving less time(maybe if they cooperated). And they spent over a 100k each on their defense. They were looking at 15 & got 15(& 1 concurrent for the firearm).

I have some dark thoughts on occasion. And then I read something like this. What action was worth potentially putting yourself in jail for 15 years? I'd rather move my family to section 8 housing and work at a fast food place till I get my feet back on the ground. And that's having a family, if I were single I would live in my car. Where there is life, there is hope. You are dead in prison. Horrible story. Sad.

 

[ICU11b]

Only 26 when he went in... Left a four year old son. His time will be up in 2015. The other guy could die in there for all I care...

Edit: It was not steroid related. Tri Coach, if you want to hear the story PM me

 

[pimpman]

I have some dark thoughts on occasion. And then I read something like this. What action was worth potentially putting yourself in jail for 15 years? I'd rather move my family to section 8 housing and work at a fast food place till I get my feet back on the ground. And that's having a family, if I were single I would live in my car. Where there is life, there is hope. You are dead in prison. Horrible story. Sad.

very well said.couldnt agree more