question on felony charges?

Question

a friend of mine's daughter held up a business with her boyfriend. they got a lot of money & spent it on all kinds of stuff, clothes, booze, drugs, furniture etc. they were watched by detectives. finaly they were arrested. my friends daughter confessed. she testified yesterday at his preliminary hearing. he was held over for trial. she waived her right to a preliminary hearing on simular chartes, which are robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, simple assault & drug offenses. they held the place up with masks on & had a bb gun which looked real. what will happen to her since she confessed? she testified that they did it to get money to begin a new life. any help on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Wow, that it not good. Armed robbery is never a good charge. Depending on your state and the judge it all depends. Did she not have a lawyer? There is a chance the confession will do nothing. Those are very serious charges, she could do some time. If she is a first time offender, many states have first offender probabtion where they will do no time, but every year of their sentence they will be on probabtion, if they violate it, they go to jail for the rest of their sentence. This does not apply to violent crimes though. The other charges she would probably be ok, but the robbery charge is not good. Do a search on the internet and look at your states laws. I live in Georgia and I know there is a lot of infomation about our laws. Her lawyer should be able to tell you what he feels are possible out comes. Sorry I could not be more upbeat, but saying not worry is not true. Make sure she has a good lawyer.

Answer 2

You fail to say if there is a "deal" (plea bargain) on the table. If there is, then she'll serve the terms of the plea bargain. If there isn't...she is looking at at least 5 felonies including the gun. The gun doesn't have to be real btw. A simulated gun such as a thumb and forefinger in a pocket suffices to indicate deadly force was threatened in the commission of the theft. A BB gun will certainly satisfy the statute provisions of a weapon.

Did she have advice of an attorney? Please post the additional info including the state. Most states have a mandatory minimum when a weapon is used in the commission of a felony.

I'd like to say there is good news here, but it sure doesn't sound like it. She's probably going to be doing some serious time.
Good luck.

Answer 3

Why did she testify before working out a deal? Should have played victim, talked about how he controlled her, forced her to do it. All that BS. Why didn't her attorney work with her on this? She is facing felony charges, her attorney should be telling her to shut up until she gets something in return.

If she has no prior records then she could work out a good deal. Yes it is technically an armed robbery but don't forget the circumstances still play a large role. The DA will be ready to let her plead this down in return for her testimony. Hell, where I worked we plead down all first time DUI's to reckless driving if it was a first offense. Mandatory sentences only apply if that is what you are charged with and everything is negotiable.

Answer 4

People who commit crimes, need to pay the penalty. When a firearm is used in the commission of a crime the penalty goes way up.

" she testified that they did it to get money to begin a new life. " Man that is typical tripe. My wife worked as a counselor in a jail for a while the song and dance BS she would tell me about was amazing. It's NEVER their fault.

Fact is, the little girl was likely coddled by idiot parents who didn't discipline her from the beginning.

expect 10 yrs minimum. I hope and pray some jack*ss liberal judge doesn't let this person off. Too many people like this are sucking the life out of society because of some sense of entitlement to "get help starting their life".

Answer 5

Here's a link. I hate to say it but it seems like she will get a long sentence. Because it was serious it which she held up the place and of the other convictions you mentioned. Her confession probably will lower the sentence a little, although pleading guilty will lower it down even more. Now, if she snitches and tells the police about other felonies, that could lower the down the sentence too. Here's a link for more information. Sorry about what happened.

Answer 6

It depends on if she, the detectives. and the DA worked out some kind of agreement before the confession, if not she can serve the full sentence. It looks like she got that "new life" after all.

Answer 7

It really depends on the state, but she will definitely serve prison time.

Because she confessed, the DA might be nice and not charge her with ARMED robbery, but a reduced robbery charge instead. The DA can also drop other charges as well, but it is entirely up to the DA.

Answer 8

there are way to many charges and assault with a deadly weapon is a felony charge. She will go to prison. But what the judge will give her I can't tell you. For her sake I hope she gets several years to have time to straighten out her life.

Answer 9

Many times the prosecution offers one of the people involved in a crime of this nature a lesser charge with minimal time in jail for their testimony. if this is the case she was offerd a "deal" for her tesifiying then she should get a much better deal then the boyfriend. she will spend time in jail but it will be ALOT less then the he will get.

Answer 10

She's in luck!!! Women more often then not get a free pass, reduced sentence, when they confess then claim they were forced to do it by their male cohorts. All she has to do is testify against Joe Blow boyfriend and she may walk or get probation.