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  • Today, I want to give a quick overview of felony sentencing

  • in California.

  • So if you're convicted of a felony,

  • you will have a sentencing hearing

  • where the judge will decide what sentence

  • or what penalties to impose.

  • And at a sentencing hearing, the judge really

  • has two calls to make-- first of all,

  • whether to grant probation.

  • Almost every crime allows the judge discretion

  • to grant probation, and this is where

  • the judge says, basically, "I'm going to go easy on you.

  • I'm going to give you a chance.

  • I'm going to put you on probation."

  • Now, with probation, the judge can still

  • sentence you to up to a year in county jail.

  • But oftentimes, when the judge grants probation,

  • there's no jail time at all.

  • The judge merely says, "I'm going

  • to have you on probation for three to five years.

  • And if you do everything correctly, at the end,

  • we'll dismiss your case and expunge it.

  • If you violate your probation, then we

  • can send you to jail or prison for up to the maximum term."

  • If the judge elects not to grant probation,

  • then the judge has to decide-- do I impose

  • a low, middle, or high term?

  • Now, almost every crime has a sentencing range

  • of a low middle or high term.

  • For example, grand theft has a low term

  • of 16 months in custody, a middle term

  • of two years in custody, and a high term

  • of three years in custody.

  • Generally, the middle term is presumed

  • unless there are mitigating or aggravating circumstances.

  • Now, mitigating circumstances are things in your case

  • that would call for leniency.

  • So for example, if you have no prior record,

  • if you played only a small role in the crime,

  • if you took care to make sure that nobody got hurt,

  • if your motive for committing the crime

  • was to provide food for your children-- all of these

  • would be considered mitigating factors.

  • Then there's aggravating factors.

  • Aggravating factors are things that would

  • call for a tougher sentence.

  • So for example, if you have an extensive record,

  • if you were already on probation,

  • if you used a weapon, if multiple people were injured,

  • or there was a great loss of money to the victim,

  • these would be considered aggravating circumstances.

  • So basically, the judge weighs the mitigating

  • and the aggravating circumstances.

  • If the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating

  • circumstances, then the judge is supposed

  • to impose the low term.

  • On the other hand, in a more serious case

  • where the aggravating circumstances outweigh

  • the mitigating circumstances, the judge

  • is supposed to impose the high term.

  • This is where a good criminal defense attorney comes in.

  • We can emphasize the mitigating factors

  • and show why the aggravating factors should be discounted.

  • At a sentencing hearing, a good defense attorney

  • can go a long way towards convincing the judge

  • to impose a low term or to grant probation and impose no jail

  • time at all.

Today, I want to give a quick overview of felony sentencing

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