You hit the nail on the head, it is the mood of the prosecutor and the judge. My husband was arrested in an online sting operation with 47 other men. Some of the charges for each man were different, but the majority of the men were charged with the exact same offenses. My husband took a plea along with several others and they were all sentenced to different prison terms. There was no rhyme or reason for the individuals who had no priors and they did not all end up with the same length of time.

I doubt than anyone has all the variables figured out, but here is what I think.

If your attorney has a good relationship with the DA, that is a plus.

If your attorney has the bulldog determination to wait out the DA for the best plea deal, that is in your favor.

If you are generally liked in the community with no priors, that can only be a plus for you.

If the DA has a mountain load of cases and wants to just get this thing behind him, that is a plus for you.

If the DA is about to run for re-election and it is an election year, you have problems.

If the DA thinks he can get some major press coverage out of your case, you are at a disadvantage.

If the victim is Mrs. Rich from a notable family in the city instead of Sad Sack Suzy whose family is poor, you have problems.

If the victim is young, white with blond hair and blue eyes instead of someone who needs extensive dental work with a bad skin complexion and a minority, you probably are at a disadvantage.

If the victim's family is pressing the DA for some action, you are at a disadvantage.

If the evidence against you is not strong and the DA is not sure he can prevail at trial, your chances of a favorable plea deal go up immeasurably.

After that, who knows?

rewdiazepam

I know in my case it took place in 2005 and got probation till 2022. My judge was the head of the sex offenders victim advocatacy.

maisr,

Your judge was the head of the sex offenders VICTIM ADVOCACY???? An outspoken victim's advocate?

WOW.

That sounds like a pretty blatant conflict of interest. Did your attorney make an attempt to get him off the case?

rewdiazepam

Everything fell into place for my son: Great attorney, fabulous judge and prosecutor. Even the arresting officers recommended leniency.

Our attorney said that if it was just one county over, the sentence would have been severe.

I feel horribly guilty reading about the awful sentences being dished out, but I'm ever so grateful that my son was one of the lucky ones (so far).

Rew, Ill go down the list.
One, I have a phenominal counceler, sought help immedietly and took full responsibility for my actions. She said she would either come in with us or write a letter.
In RI the public defenders office is split up. The junior pd's handle pleas and other minor stuff and the veterans handle trials so I have no clue what the relationship is like.
Different state so unless I had all of North East CT show up I don't think this is going to be a factor other than we own our own business.
I also have am the full time caretaker for my disabled wife.
The city of Cranston is almost a suburb of Providence so the case loads I imagine are pretty hefty. Also the DA's office is rather large and the DA himself didn't show up it was one of many assistants or so I'm told.
The victims dad has been beligerant, threatening and over the top, not sure what kind of money they have.

No clue what evidence they have against me.

You said that "you have no clue what evidence they have against me."

If you have taken full responsibility for your actions, I would assume that included an admission of guilt on your part, so that more or less eliminates the possibility of winning at trial. You are almost forced to try for a decent plea bargain.

That you took full responsibility is not bad at all. I doubt that you would have wanted to go to trial anyway, as most people plead to these crimes. Admitting that you were wrong in the beginning is better than putting the state and the victim through a preliminary hearing and that can only be good for you.

Your counselor will hold a lot of weight and a positive statement from her will help you greatly. Judges sometimes put a lot of weight on another professional's opinion.

Has your attorney worked on a plea bargain?

The fact that you are your wife's full time caretaker will also hold some weight. I don't know how much, but it can only be good for you that she needs you.

This case may not be the highest priority in the DAs office.
All in all, I think you have a good chance of escaping any prison time.

I hope for everyone involved that you are able to stay in the community. I enjoy your posts and you seem like a decent guy. We need you here.

rewdiazepam

Rew, my husband's judge had been a member of the church that our church split from. She was on the board and I was co-chair of a committee that always had issues with the board. She had issues with our pastor and our church ended up splitting (long story) But considering all that, and the fact that our pastor and church were and are supportive of us, you'd think she'd be recused but she wasn't.

Rew, I have admitted it to my counceler, wife and public defender but not in court. Waiting to see what strategy plays out. My date so far if there are no continuences is late next month. They don't seperate the court dates either in RI, discovery, plea and negotiations all take place at the same time in a seperate room between me, public defender, prosecutor and judge.

Thanks Rew for the kind words! Yes I messed up but for my whole life to be judged by one incident is just silly. I have always held a decent job, paid my taxes, helped out in the community and not once gotten into trouble. My worst mistake before this was smoking for 11 years.

Oh and while not sex crimes related here is another example of broken justice;
http://news.yahoo.com/armed-robber-never-told-report-prison-195146743.html

I am confused at what point you are in this investigation, but at some point you should have had a preliminary hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to bind you over to trial. Maybe you are just foregoing the hearing and wanting to concentrate on a good plea agreement.

But the preliminary hearing will make the state reveal how much evidence they have against you and how reliable its witnesses are. Some cases just fall apart at preliminary hearing---and then you would walk. Also if the DA sees his witnesses are "iffy", he will offer a better plea deal.

A defendant can always threaten a trial just to have a preliminary hearing to see what cards the DA has, but of course if you admitted guilt in the very beginning a preliminary would not be feasible.

You did mess up, I agree, but you don't need to be paying for this lapse in judgment for the rest of your life. This perpetual punishment with no end in sight is the biggest problem with sexually related offenses. This mistake does not define you as a person, I am sure.

I will be wishing you the best, that is for sure.

rewdiazepam

I'll try to clear it up and I think RI is a bit messed up.
Turned myself in-no plea entered just bail.
Court date set for May 29th and is called the Pre-Arraignment Conference in which four things can happen
1 Continuances can be filed
2 The state will determine if there is sufficient evidence for felony charges, if not it will be entered as "No Information" BUT the charges could be brought back at any time.
3 I will be charged at which point any evidence will be handed over to the public defender and negotiations will start between me, pd, prosecutor and judge.
4 No offer may be given and my case will go straight to superior court.

rewdias first I have to say this took place grand old FL :-( my lawyer said he knew nothing of the judges attitude towards RSO knew postion . I only found this out by one of my fellow inmates his family lived next to the judge and knew all about her. I also told my lawyer my rights were never read to me his response was that made no difference in the eyes of FL it would be my word against the detective so there was no reason to read me my rights. Of course this was another FL move.