Judge sentencing?
In the dog saga two of the defendants will be sentenced, one on Sept. 30 and the other on Dec 14 Today is Aug 17, why should it take so long for a judge to decide, I feel you just look in the book for the answer. No wonder the courts are so clogged with untried cases.
Answers:
The courts do pre-sentence investigations in many cases to look for aggravating and mitigating circumstances that may be relevant to the case. These may be done by probation officers in the jurisdiction; some areas use private agencies. They take some time to compile, but judges who request them want a fuller picture of a defendant they are about to sentence than just what crime is s/he guilty of and have they been convicted before which is all that is usually available at first.
they have to check other precedents that may apply..
It's not the decision that takes so much time. It's the fact that our judicial system can't keep up. It's too flooded with cases. It was flooded with cases before the scheduling problems happened. The overabundance of cases came first, not the "slow" judges.
The defendants have to go through an interview with a probation officer, who will make recommendations to the judge concerning sentencing.
Also, when I was practicing criminal law, I would solicit letters from the defendant's family members and friends, concerning the defendant's good moral character. Obtaining these letters take a little time.
I would bring these with me to the interview, and personally appear as well, in the event I needed to do a little "spinning" because of the defendant's lack of articulation.
If the probation report was incorrect, or mischaracterized my client, I would file an Objection to the Probation Report, and the Probation Officer would address the issues in my objection, and issue another report. Again, this takes time, as well.
His decision could be setting precedent...
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