Tampa Criminal Lawyers routinely deal with issues relating to the victim injury points being added to a Florida scoresheet. This effect is twofold – victim injury points almost certainly either make the minimum sentence some time in prison and/or significantly increases any potential prison sentence. In short, Florida law permits the Assistant State Attorney handling the case to add these points to a scoresheet.
Severe injury points are appropriate when something beyond the injury is expected by simply assault and battery charge occur. Again, severe injuries occur when something occurs beyond a simple black eye, minor bruises and/or scrapes to one’s face. Put another way, severe injury points are “great bodily harm.” It’s worth noting though, that severe injury points result in an additional 40 points being added to a Florida scoresheet. This essentially guarantees an individual scoring minimum prison time. It’s worth repeating, as we have elsewhere on our Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney blog that Florida sentencing scoresheet is known as “topless guidelines.” They are referred to as “topless” because the Florida scoresheet solely provides the minimum sentence, while the degree of felony provides the maximum sentence.
With the addition of 40 points for severe injury levels, the discretion for Florida judges is again cut and diminished by the Florida Legislature. Tampa Criminal Lawyer always have issue with these cases because the judges actually consider the unique facts and circumstances of the case have almost no discretion because of the scoresheet, which was designed by the Florida Legislature, who has no idea about the facts of the case.
If you have questions concerning a Florida scoresheet, the preparation of a Florida scoresheet, and/or general criminal defense questions, contact the Tampa Criminal Lawyers of Hackworth for a free case consultation. We’ve handled thousands of criminal cases throughout the entire Tampa Bay area. We’ve had great success in getting charges reduced or dismissed on behalf of our clients. If you’d like to contact one of our Tampa Criminal Lawyers immediately, please use the “Contact Us Now” in the upper right hand corner of our website. We also have operators standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to connect you to one of our attorneys. We appreciate you taking the time to check out our blog and look forward to working with you in the future.