The overwhelming majority of individuals charged with a criminal offense in Florida always ask the Brandon drug attorneys of Hackworth Law about the specifics of their judge. Frankly unless the case goes to trial, your judge will have very little impact on your case since the plea will be an agreement between the parties, rather than up to the discretion of the judge. This question though really raises several issues.
First, this question assumes that they will receive a sentence directly from the judge. The overwhelming majority of criminal cases are resolved by a plea for an agreed upon disposition between the defendant and the State Attorney’s Office. In the overwhelming majority of criminal cases, the Judge simply sentences the defendant to the agreed upon disposition, so the Judge really is only relaying the sentence. As we discussed elsewhere on our Brandon Drug Attorneys blog, very rarely do judges reject plea agreements between parties. For your convenience, we provided a list of current Hillsborough County Judges.
Secondly, the Florida Criminal Punishment Code really limits the discretion a judge has while sentencing someone on a felony charge. The Florida Criminal Punishment Code provides many limitations on a sentence like minimum mandatories, the minimum sentence on charges, etc. Ultimately, the judge can sentence someone from the bottom of the “guidelines” to the statutory maximum on the charge. Again though, this assumes the defendant either enters an “open plea” or goes to trial and loses. An “open plea” occurs when a defendant enters a plea of guilt or “no contest” with no prearranged sentence or agreement to a cap of the sentence with the State Attorneys’ Office. The Judge can then sentence the defendant to any legal sentence.
Lastly, the real impact of the judge concerns the legal decisions the judge will make regarding motions to suppress, motion to dismiss, etc. The Brandon Drug Attorneys of Hackworth Law have significant experience handling cases across the entire Tampa Bay Area throughout Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Polk counties. Ultimately, these decisions are more likely to have a major impact on your case since more than likely the case will be resolved with some sort of prearranged sentence.
If you or someone you know has questions concerning the criminal process, contact the Tampa criminal attorneys of Hackworth Law for a free case consultation. If you would like to contact one of our Brandon Drug Attorneys immediately, please use either the “contact us now” tab in the upper right hand corner of our website or our chatbox in the lower right hand corner of our website. We appreciate you taking the time to check out our Tampa criminal attorney blog.