Hello PTO FAMILY,
Now my question might be oh one of those out of the BIG YELLOW "DUMMY" columms.Anywayz when an inmate takes a plea offer,do you know if by any chance if he can order his sentencing to be lowered.Especially if he is a 3rd strikerrrrrrrr and was lookin @ 25-2-life on a possesion charge in a state prison???Can anyone help me understand how a plea bargain works out & what are thee options/chances in getting out sooner than 9yrs?I feel like a big dummy.Lets just make a DUMMY THREAD cause I do not for sure know much about the terminology of a prisoner.Now ask me about terminology in the streets or any ese slang & I can help anyone on that or anyone who needs info. on how to get around Orange County & The City of SANTA ANA.I hope I can get some answers or suggestions on my big dummy ?:confused:
Take care & thank GOD FOR PTO.BE BLESSED

Adios,:thumbsup:
Huera

Hey, you're no dummy, this stuff is complicated!!!

Part of the purpose of a plea bargain is to agree to which charges will stick and then come up with a sentance (usually lighter than what a jury might impose) that everyone agrees to, although the judge does have the final say on that. (Amazingly, not all strikes are always counted, it seems to be up to the DAs or judges, not sure which.)

The most important thing is, if he's arranging a plea, his lawyer should have a pretty good sense of what the DA will accept and what his sentence range is probably going to be.

As far as how many years, again his lawyer should know how strong or weak your man's case is and how tough the judge is and what kind of deal they can expect to get. It's a real dance, I can tell you that.

iTS A DANCE ALRIGHT!
Now once he takes a plea is that it?Will he be able to have a re-sentence.Like for instance when in Nov. of 2004 they amend the 3 strikes.Will he be able to get that 3rd strike off & also get a lower snetence of 9yrs?I mean come on the laws now day are very pethetic and all this terminology is driving :angry:

Gracias,
Huerita~linda


Hey, you're no dummy, this stuff is complicated!!!

Part of the purpose of a plea bargain is to agree to which charges will stick and then come up with a sentance (usually lighter than what a jury might impose) that everyone agrees to, although the judge does have the final say on that. (Amazingly, not all strikes are always counted, it seems to be up to the DAs or judges, not sure which.)

The most important thing is, if he's arranging a plea, his lawyer should have a pretty good sense of what the DA will accept and what his sentence range is probably going to be.

As far as how many years, again his lawyer should know how strong or weak your man's case is and how tough the judge is and what kind of deal they can expect to get. It's a real dance, I can tell you that.

First of all, your attorney should be answering these questions. Your boyfriend can request that his attorney be allowed to share all informatation with you so that you might address questions that he may forget with his limited contacts with his attorney. If it is a PD, they are busy and may have limited time with you also. In addition, they may not meet with you at all, unless you push. In that case, I found that emails were the best route to feed information to the PD, regardless if he answered me.

Our attorney explained that courts offer deals to save court time which costs money for taxpayers. If your loved one is clearly guilty, and goes for trial anyway, I was told that the judge can get pissed off for wasting the time and expense of these useless court proceedings, and will often times impose a maximum sentence for that reason, if the defendent is found guilty by a jury. Offers of a plea bargain may often be the best choice. His opinion was that anyone sentenced to 25 to life, rarely get out under our current guidelines. This is just one attorney's opinion.

The laws are always subject to change, especially with the overcrowding of the system. Clearly you need to speak with an attorney that is familiar with criminal law. Don't count on future changes to be a guarantee of affecting the final sentence for your loved one. Rumors abound, but they are just that. Your attorney should be negotiating for lower sentencing with the DA automatically. That is his job.

grammyC is right, don't count on the 3 strikes changes when his attorney should be making the best deal for him right now...

also another thing to remember, with many plea agreements (like my friend's) they waive their right to ANY appeal -- even if exhonerating evidence comes up later on! So make sure he knows what he's agreeing to, I have seen some young guys in our town get sadly surprised by that one.

Hang in there, it's confusing all right.

I work as a victims advocate in the court system. It might be a little easier to understand plea bargains if I give you an example.
A defendant is charged with: Two counts of domestic violence, one violation of a protection order, and one count child endangering.
The prosecutor offers a plea bargain of: One count of DV, violation of a protection order
If the defendant pleas guilty to those two, the prosecutor will ask for the other two charges to be dismissed.
Plea bargains save the court time & money by keeping people from going foward with trials and it saves the defendants butt...because at trial he could be risking being found guilty on 4 counts (in my example)...versus the two he could plea to given by the prosecutor.

At the time of sentencing the defense attorney can bring up the fact that he did take a plea bargain but it's not always the best idea. In the judge's mind, "Oh, this defendant was charged with additional things but he's taking the easy way out?" -- and he gets a harsh sentence. Or it can work well and the judge may view it as, "He's taking responsibility for the crime and he's saving everyones time. I'll go easy on him." It's a huge risk.

Make more sense? Trust me, not a stupid question... I explain it to my clients on a daily basis...and they still tend to have confused looks on their faces :)

Thanks,
Grammy~C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~First of all, your attorney should be answering these questions. Your boyfriend can request that his attorney be allowed to share all informatation with you so that you might address questions that he may forget with his limited contacts with his attorney. If it is a PD, they are busy and may have limited time with you also. In addition, they may not meet with you at all, unless you push. In that case, I found that emails were the best route to feed information to the PD, regardless if he answered me.

Our attorney explained that courts offer deals to save court time which costs money for taxpayers. If your loved one is clearly guilty, and goes for trial anyway, I was told that the judge can get pissed off for wasting the time and expense of these useless court proceedings, and will often times impose a maximum sentence for that reason, if the defendent is found guilty by a jury. Offers of a plea bargain may often be the best choice. His opinion was that anyone sentenced to 25 to life, rarely get out under our current guidelines. This is just one attorney's opinion.

The laws are always subject to change, especially with the overcrowding of the system. Clearly you need to speak with an attorney that is familiar with criminal law. Don't count on future changes to be a guarantee of affecting the final sentence for your loved one. Rumors abound, but they are just that. Your attorney should be negotiating for lower sentencing with the DA automatically. That is his job.

Thanks,
Grammy~C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In my husbands case that was his 12th strike, they struck the strikes to 2 and then they tripled the sentence. This was a agreement with the Judge not the DAs office, it can go so many ways its hard to tell. people will ask how is he out with 12 strikes? he was in PB when the 3 X law was inacted so therefore everything on his record priviosly counts so therefore he got out and had 12 strikes then got A possession, and was looking at life. :eek: :eek: