Sentencing

Sentencing occurs after the trial is complete. Depending on the type of trial and how it was conducted there may be a trial to determine the sentence. This occurs in a bifurcated trial (a trial with two parts). In the sentencing part of a bifurcated trial the guilt is already determined. The trial is to determine the sentencing aspect of the case.

Sentencing can be surprisingly complex. If a person is guilty of committing a crime for the first time there is one of three levels (amount of time to serve) that can be applied, a minimum, the middle, and high. Generally the court will start with the middle and move towards the minimum or high end depending on the mitigating or aggravating factors of the case.

For example, lets assume you are charged with a crime that has 2, 4, 6 as the sentencing guidelines. This means the middle amount is 4 years - this is where the judge will start for purposes of sentencing. Lets assume there are a large number of mitigating factors and no aggravating factors, in this case the judge is likely to impose the 2 years as the sentence. Now lets assume there are a lot of aggravating factors but no mitigating factors, in that case the judge will likely impose a sentence of 6 years.

Now, things get much more complicated if you have prior strikes or are in a gang. Each of these can have a huge impact on the disposition of you case. These are generally called enhancements and are statutorily required. This means a simple 2 year sentence can end up being 8,10, or 20 years depending on what enhancements you may or may not have. Obviously the more enhancements you have the more time you are looking at serving.

In some cases even if you are found guilty of the underlying crime the judge may impose a stay on your sentence, this means, even though you were found guilty of the crime you will not be serving time unless you violate your parole. Once you violate your parole the sentence will instantly come into effect and you will have to serve your full sentence. A final note is time serve. If you are sentenced to a relatively small amount of time in jail, and you have been in custody, you may be able to leave shortly after you trial (if the trial took a long time) as you have already served a certain amount of time in jail awaiting trial