Non-Custodial Sentence

The firm’s client was charged with a felony. The offer on the felony was unnecessarily high and required mandatory jail time based on the fact that the District Attorney’s office determined that the defendant was a predicate felon. A predicate felon is someone who has been convicted of a felony within the last ten years. Time spent incarcerated does not count towards the 10 years.

The defendant was also subjected to additional immigration penalties. Upon his release from prison the defendant spent time in an immigration detention center. The District Attorney’s office argued that the time spent in the immigration detention center should be viewed in exactly the same manner as time spent in prison. The Firm argued that time spent in the immigration detention center should not toll time for purposes of determining predicate felon status. The court determined that the defendant was not a predicate felon. Upon overcoming that hurdle the defendant was then able to accept responsibility for his offense without having to serve a prison term.