#sentencing

So there's one thing I think you may have a misconception about and then there's a bunch of other stuff here to answer.

In terms of misconceptions: I don't think most of those cases are reversed. This might be selection bias: you only know of the high-profile cases that are reversed? Or maybe you're in a jurisdiction where they're reversed? They are not commonly reversed here.

So, breaking this down:

Why do prosecutors bring all these charges?

Easy, no problem: bargaining power. Or just power, period. I see it the most often here with child sex abuse material cases. Each image carries mandatory minimum jail time. Do you know how many images there usually are on a cell phone of someone who browses that shit? And prosecutors don't restrict themselves to the image itself: they'll charge thumbnails, images in caches, and even images that have been deleted but are in memory that hasn't been overwritten. (All of these had to go to the Supreme Court of the state I'm in before prosecutors would stop.)

Same with online solicitation of a child cases, though those are much stupider because they almost never involve an actual child: it's always police officers pretending they're 13. Prosecutors will count every time the defendant asked for a pic, for them to take a particular action, for a video call, and total that up into a number x 2 mandatory minimum years per.

Can you imagine the relief of the terrified defendant facing 150 CSA images who gets it dropped to 10 or 20? Who now has a chance of getting out in their lifetime?

On the other hand, if that defendant doesn't cave to pressure and plead guilty, they're stuck fighting all 150.

Why does the sentence get so high?

First, because judges want to send a message, and/or because mandatory minimums just add the fuck up. I know there are some states where they default to "concurrent" sentences (i.e., everything is run at the same time, so if you have a 4y and an 8y and a 1y sentence, you serve 8y) but ours defaults to "consecutive" (so they are one after the other; in previous example, would serve 13 years).

Second, not necessarily because the judge wants the person to spend that time in prison but because they want that time hanging over that person's head if and when they get early release on parole or probation (you better behave because otherwise there's 40 or 20 or 85 years of prison time that'll come crashing down on you).

Why don't people serve that much time?

Because the justice system is obsessed with probation and parole and is full of overcrowded prisons. At its most basic level: where does a society want someone, locked in a prison consuming resources, or out of prison working a job and still fully under the threat of incarceration? You have control of them either way.

Probation (serving time with the rest of your sentence being suspended) and parole (early release from prison) are both ways to relieve the pressure of unreasonable sentences. And beyond that, both have become a fundamental way the system works. People can be sentenced to egregious amounts of time, kept under "community supervision" (nicer word for probation or parole) and violated (given a parole or probation violation) whenever they do anything wrong. Thus, that class of people has lesser constitutional rights. They're held by the throat by state or federal authorities. They can be searched. They can be arrested. They can be required to go to meetings and drug tests and programs. (Most of which they have to pay for.) It's an endless source of cash flow for the justice system.

I talk about it more in my entry on probation/parole, available in my sticky post.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by President-elect Donald Trump to halt proceedings in his criminal hush money case.

The 5-4 decision came hours after New York state’s highest appeals court refused to delay Trump’s sentencing.

Hey! Great to see you again. How are you holding up? I know it's awkward having to shuffle around in that uniform, but it will just take some getting used to. I've been told you won't even feel the chains after a while.

Anyway, I was able to make a deal with the prosecutor. It's a plea deal for a huge sentence reduction. As your lawyer, it would be crazy for you not to take it.

The plea is 12 years imprisonment, including time served. It's great news!

What's that? Yeah, I know 12 years is a long time, but it's way less than you could have been given. You should be grateful.

Not to be insensitive, but what did you expect? Did you really think someone like you would get less time? It doesn't matter if you think 12 years is unfair, anyway. It's not up to you.

Just sign your name at the bottom of this plea agreement. Signing might be difficult being handcuffed, but do your best.

After this, another court date will be scheduled for "sentencing", which will just be a formality. Just tell the judge that you're guilty of all charges and you accept the plea. They'll inform you that by accepting the plea, you are admitting full responsibility for your crimes and wave your right to appeal.

You'll be escorted to prison immediately.

What's that? Do you get to go home first? Of course not. You're going to prison. What do you think this is?

You'll be eligible for parole once your sentence is 85% served. This means the earliest possible release date for you is September 16th, 2034. There will be a parole hearing a few weeks before to approve or deny. I'll be honest, it's unlikely you'll get out that early, but you never know. It's not in your hands anyway, so don't fret.

Anyway, hurry up and sign that plea agreement. I've got big plans this evening. I won't go into detail. You'd only get jealous haha.

This is Bryan Kohberger, at his sentencing for the murder of the 4 University of Idaho students; Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.

Kohberger plead guilty. As part of his plea deal, the death penalty was off the table.

Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to 4 consecutive life sentences on the first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count.

Speaking is Alivea Goncalves, Kaylee Goncalves' older sister. As a part of his sentencing, the families and survivors were allowed to speak.

If you want to read Alivea's statement:

Here is the full hearing: