Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

if 3 people got cought commiting felony larceny and when they whent to court 2 of the 3 got released on tether, the 1 stayed in jail till his sentancing what will happen to the other 2?


Asked on 7/23/09, 2:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Neil O'Brien Eaton County Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

Your question is too broad/vague re: "what will happen to ....?" to give a specific answer. Do you mean "what will their sentence be?", or do you mean something else?

Every sentence must be individualized to THAT defendant and THAT crime. So, between 3 co-defendants, you might see 3 different sentences (ex: they have different criminal histories that affect the balance). The fact that one guy has racked up credit for time served in jail may make his sentence different because the judge must factor THAT into the sentence, and cannot do that re: the other two. But the judge probably will not make the other two serve similar jail terms just to even things out.

A person's sentence involves a wide range is issues that your limited facts do not touch on:

1. good or bad behavior since the crime date (picked up new crimes? paid restitution? got a job?

2. prior criminal records (this is a major factor in the Felony Sentencing Guidelines, but is also a common sense factr between someone with a limited prior record getting probation and someone with a long CCH getting jail/prison because they have proven that efforts to rehabilitate just don't work for that person);

3. who the judge is and that judge's sentencing tendencies;

4. the prosecutor's sentencing recommendation;

5. the victim's recommendation;

6. each defendant's cooperation with police;

7. any egregious facts involved in this case;

8. etc.

Also, if any of the defendants were 17-20 yrs old when the crime happened, they might be able to petition the court for HYTA status which might allow the charge to be dismissed at the end of a successful probation period.

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Answered on 7/28/09, 3:04 pm


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