alik,

Even if you spend all that hard earned money on an attorney and manage to prevail on appeal, as I said they will remand the case back to its original jurisdiction.

At that point, your husband can either go to trial or another plea can be negotiated. If he decides to go to trial, it will cost a whole lot of extra money for a trial attorney and he only has a 0.000001% of winning. If he pleas, the DA will not offer a plea anywhere as reasonable as three years, trust me.

So you two would be taking a very risky and foolish gamble to appeal this sentence. If it were me, I would take what I had and never look back. You are in an almost no-win situation

It would break my heart to see your husband go back and receive a 20 or 30 year sentence. That would leave you without a husband and your three children without a father for a very long time. That would really bother me.

rewdiazepam

What would be the basis of the appeal? Was there a motion to dismiss or suppress that was denied? Since there wasn't a trial reversible or fundamental errors are going to be few and far between. I'm asking because if it's challenging the denial of an important motion like to dismiss or suppress then it might be worth considering. If you lose yes you're out the money but that's it and if you win the case is either dismissed or key evidence will be suppressed in which case the State is likely to drop the charges or offer an even better plea.

On the other hand if it's about a reversible error of some kind then Rew is absolutely right. All you're doing is giving an irate prosecutor another chance to take his or her best shot.

aladdin, the original motion was a speedy trial motion. The prosecution dragged their feet the entire time with no excuse. My home was raided and my husband was arrested in April of 2012, they didn't do anything till November 2013. And when I say they did nothing they really did nothing. They indicted him on the information they found the day he was arrested (1 file), then they offered him a plea deal. His lawyer told them no to the original plea and filed the speedy trial motion to dismiss. At that point the prosecutor decided to take the computer they took as evidence and look at what was on it. That's when they found 18 files all together. We went to court for the motion and the judge denied it. They offered another deal and my husband took it but his lawyer told him he should file an appeal. So that is where we are now.

I spoke to my husband today and he said we should just let it go, although he is still interested in what his former lawyer has to say about what the lawyer he recommended told me.

Alik,
I'm so glad your husband said to just let it go. I know there's always an element of "what if?" in the equation but three years is really not a long sentence. My man and I are grateful everyday that he only has nine years. I know that sounds crazy but it could have been much, much worse.
Just stay in communication - letters, emails, phone calls - whatever your state allows. Visit when you can. I think someday you'll be glad you didn't try to go down the appellate path.

Thank you Irisvvg. We're been trying to stay in contact as much as we can. He's still at central reception so he's only out once or twice a day and most days I end up missing his call (which leaves me feeling totally guilty, but I have 3 kids and I'm always doing something). I write as much as I can. I want this part of our journey to be over. I've spent enough time in lawyer's offices and court rooms that I just want to put that behind me and look forward to his release.

Release gahhhhhhh
In NJ the P.O. is permitted to disclose to others what crimes my son was ACCUSED of and not just that which he took a plea for.
They accused him of CP and there wasn't any CP. Pictures of my son's nieces, Gf kids, etc. were called CP.
He took a plea for Electronic Communication with a Minor yet the other accusation remains on his record.
That is one reason why I hate hate hate plea bargins.
Im here to support people like myself. I respect decisions made. We all have our reasons for doing things.
I wish i had the money to fight this BS. I know I could beat them up badly.

Good luck Hugssss

As I have said several times, it is important to compartmentalize these situations and take the process one step at a time. Getting too far ahead of yourself is a recipe for disaster.

First, get through the charges with all the court dates, meetings with attorneys, pleas or trial, etc. This is the biggest and most EMOTIONAL step, filled with the fear of the unknown.

Then get through the reception process, which takes about three or four weeks.

Then get him through his new home as his destination prison.

Next, he goes to prison, gets a job, gets acclimated, and begins to do his time. There will probably be several "compartmentalizations" while he is in prison as issues do come up. But take them one at a time.

Then his release.

Then getting started with probation if he has any.

Then registration and all its rules and restrictions.

Remember you can only live one hour at a time and one day at a time. Trying to look forward even six months on any one day can case problems. Stick with the problem at hand.

These situations are doable, but you have to make it easy on yourself.

If you take this mess in segments, I am very confident that you and your family can get through this and you and your family can get on with a wonderful life upon his release.

rewdiazepam

You have endured the court process, which is just an emotional roller coaster if there ever was one.
During that time, a person is filled with so much doubt and fear that sometimes it is paralyzing. When this part is over, you can concentrate on the next phase of your journey.

Really, there is not too much you can do now. He just has to built a routine and work his sentence down. Really pretty simple. He needs to stay out of trouble and allow time to take care of things.

You just have to take care or not only YOURSELF but your children. There is nothing major for either of you to do but wait.

Letters are like gold to inmates in prison. They don't have much contact with the outside world so that communication is important. It allows a guy to know in his heart that someone still cares enough to pick up a pen and paper and write him a letter, even though much of the world has turned their backs on him.

He knows that he is still loved and needed and it gives him HOPE for the future. Sometimes HOPE is all we have so it is important to have hope in all situations.

The best thing about letters is that they can be read and re-read over and over and over. When an inmate gets down a little----and he will, as I did----he can open up his locker, pick up a letter and be reminded that someone cares about him. I have seen cellmates that have read letters three or four dozen times. They are a precious commodity in prison. So write, write, write, and write some more.

One caution. When your husband receives a letter, the first thing he must do is tear the return address off the letter and flush it. Inmates have been known to steal addresses and then start contacting the family or worse yet, trying to run a game on an unsuspecting family member.

He is older, he will be at a minimum security facility where violence almost never happens, and you have the kiddies to take care of. He can just kick back and pass the time in there until his release.

You guys will be fine, trust me.

rewdiazepam

PS Did I say that writing letters is so very important? ha ha

My son got 30 months for 1 count cp. Had he went to trial, after seeing how the prosecutor lied at sentencing we didn't want to take the chance of him maybe getting 25 years.
My son said there are guys in there for the same thing that happened to him and they have 15 - 20 years.

Take the plea. . As Rew says . It could get a lot worse if you don't.

Thanks rew! I already told him about getting rid of the return address. I write him every day and send out a stack of letters every few days. I love that man and can't wait to hold him again!