Quote:
Originally Posted by johnny961
I agree with alot of your arguments. That being said, doesn't a persons past criminal record play a role in the sentencing? I mean, wouldn't a judge be more apt to go light on both of these kids if both had clean criminal records before this incident, as opposed to two kids with a history of law violations? I haven't been following this story closely, don't know alot of the facts, not trying to diss you. And I'm not a judge or a lawyer. I just thought I'd throw this out there. That may be their only hope for leniency.
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As I'm only going off the prosecutors statement, I can't speak directly to this. However, if a statute has language allowing for the consideration of prior offenses, I have to believe that would've been taken into account already. It's usually codified somehow.
In other words, if there is an enhancer for a previous offense that allows for, say, 10 years in jail, then the prosecutor would've said it was punishable by 1o years rather than 5.
I believe in stating that this is a crime punishable by 5 years, the prosecutor is saying that this is the allowable penalty for a first time offense.