Can some one explain this to me. A friend of mine got sentence to 5 years TO 5 years AND 1 day. Can some one explain this? What doese the day maean, what the point of a day?
2006-09-09 08:47:56 · 4 answers · asked by cc26cc 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Sentencing guidelines say that a prisoner has to serve a certain percentage of his sentence before being released, and the amound of time depends on the number of years. By adding just a day, the judge insures that he'll serve more time. If the judge wanted to give him a break, he would have left it at exactly 5 years. Looks like the judge had something against your friend.
2006-09-09 08:59:53 · answer #1 · answered by ratboy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means the crime for which your friend was sentenced carries a minimum sentence of 5 years. In states which have a minimum mandatory sentencing provision, this means the judge was forced to sentence him to 5 years. Many states have what is called an indeterminate sentencing provision. Meaning, that (for example only) the crime of aggravated battery, the sentence may be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 years in prison. The judge hands down the minimum and maximum sentences, and then the state parole board will determine whether he serves the minimum or the maximum.
In this case, it sounds like the judge was allowed to specify the maximum, so he has been given a 5 year sentence. If you state allows for parole, early release, and/or good-behaviour release, then he may actually serve less than the 5 years. Without knowing the state and the crime for which he was convicted, I can't comment more.
2006-09-09 15:59:31 · answer #2 · answered by Phil R 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There could be a lot of variants to why such a sentence was given to your friend.
(A) Conduct of your friend in court.
(B) Incompetence of his lawyer during the trial.
(C) The judge could have just had a bad day & wanted to take out some sort of frustration.
These are just examples, not the rules.
I hope this helps...
2006-09-09 16:02:29 · answer #3 · answered by Donald R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have heard of that type of sentencing before.I think it has something to do with the inclusion of good time or something.
If he gets good time he'll only do three years on a five year sentence but if he messes up sometime in that three years he will do every bit of the five years plus a day.The day assures that he will do every bit of his time without the benefit of good time.
I'm not sure.
2006-09-09 16:02:47 · answer #4 · answered by robert2011@sbcglobal.net 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋