My son got sentenced on Wed. last week to six years and 3 year parole.
His says someone said he got an unjust sentence that this is a nine year sentence and not six he plead to the charge of 2 years to six years. This person told him he could appeal this and get only the six years is this true?

If so do I contact he PD for him? How do we get this back in court if this indeed is a incorrect sentence?

Any advice would be so helpful.

Thank you,
Cindy....aka Steven's mom

Cindy
You can call the Public defenders office and ask and make enquiries, never be afraid to ring around and ask. If this is correct your son may be allowed to have a new re sentencing hearing. They can advise you on if this can happen. Do you have a free legal service in the US where you can call, such as legal aid, and get some free advice as well. I would find all my options that are available, and get your sons story out there. I hope someone can come along and tell you better advise.
Good Luck in this, you are in my thoughts.

His current attorney is supposed to talk to him about his right to appeal and help him file if that is what they decide. If an appeal is filed an appeal attorney will be appointed to review the case. This type of appeal must be filed within 30 days of conviction and is only to determine if errors were made that could possibly have changed the outcome of the trial. There is a short time for filing but don't expect any quick results. There are other things to file that he will find out about. Jailhouse lawyers are inmates but many of them know exactly what they are doing and can probably give better info than anyone else. Sounds like this is a first time experience for you, too. I have a lot to learn but the length of the sentence tells me it must not be a 3g classification so he should get good time which may be a third of his sentence if he works and takes classes. I am puzzled by this. My experience is limited but I haven't come across anyone who is ordered to spend x amount of time in prison and x amount of time on parole. Get in touch with his attorney and demand that he go over good time/work time with you so you will know if it applies in this case. The state you are in also makes a difference.
Ohara

I Am Only A Legal Assistant We Don't Really Deal With Criminal Only Civil But The Lawyer And I Helped My Husband On His Case. From What I Understand If Your Son Got Sentenced To 6 Years He Is Going To Do 6 Years Or Less Depending On His Conduct They Could Relese Him Early. The 3 Year Parole Thing Means That When He Gets Out He Is Going To Have To Report To A Po For Three Years. For Example My Husband Got Sentenced For 32 Months With A Maximum Sentence Of 6 Years But He Is Only Doing 32 Months Unless He Gets In Trouble In There They Could Sentence Him To The Maximum Of 6 Yrs. Plus A 3 Year Parole That Means That When He Gets Out He Can't Get In Trouble For 3 Years Or Else He Can Go Back And Serve His Maximum Sentence. Hope That Kinda Helped You. If Not Let Me Know And I'll Ask The Criminal Lawyer That Helped Us Out With His Case.

You didn't mention what state he was convicted in and that is relevant. Your son saying "someone said he got an unjust sentence" and "This person told him he could appeal this and get only the six years" is a red flag that he's getting jail house legal advise from some other inmate or CO that thinks they are offerign good advise. Sounds to me like a very basic issue here, not something easliy over looked by a sentencing judge (the 6 years with 3 years parole) and are you sure it's Parole and not Probation? Anyway, my advise is that you answered your own question. I would send a letter (typed if possible) to the PD and CC to the the PD office supervisor. Don't mention "someone told me" also, your son needs to write it. I'll assume he is 18 or over so you really have nothing to do with the matter in the eyes of the court and the PD. They could be justified in ignoring your letter but not one from the client directly. If your son doesn't write well, do it for him and bring it to him on a visit or mail it to him to sign and mail from the jail. Perhaps if you mention your state, someone with knowledge of that state can help better than I. Good Luck, the court does make mistakes and they do need to be checked soemtimes.
Searcher

If he pled to a 2 month to 6 year sentence and got sentenced to 6 years with 3 years probation then he got the sentence he was supposed to (or should have expected to )get.

I think I understand your & your son's issue with his sentence. Since the option was two months to six years why should he serve the max? Therefore, I understand what you mean by nine years because he will be doing a total of nine. I bet this could be a mistake because if he would violate parole without a new charge, they could not send him back, because he maxed out his sentence. I do not understand the three years parole if he got a max sentence.

First, you did not mention what state your son was convicted and sentenced in. Someone stated your son has 30 days to file his appeal; actually, in some states, the time limit is only 21 days, and it is a "claim (or notice) of right to appeal" and request for appointment of appellate counsel.

Something your son should discuss with appellate counsel is whether there's a risk of being sentenced to more time on resentencing should he prevail on appeal. This happens in some cases - depending on many factors of the case.

If your son's case is in Michigan, you can go to www.milaw.net (http://www.milaw.net) and post a message on the criminal law message boards. The message boards only recently opened, but there's a few very fine criminal appellate attorneys there to help.

Good luck.

Tim

Are you sure the sentance wasn't 6 years and 3 years probation? There is a big difference between probation and parole.