What Happens When a Judge Sentences a Defendant to Four Years in Prison When They Should Have Sentenced Him to Six Years?

That is exactly what happened in the recent case of People vs. Kingsberry. The defendant was originally placed on probation for a violation of Penal Code Section 288 (child molestation). The defendant was found to be in violation of his probation and the court sentenced the defendant to a four year prison sentence. The problem with that sentence is that the possible penalties for a violation of Penal Code section 288 are a choice between 3, 6 or 8 years in state prison. The court minutes clearly indicated the judge was sentencing him to the “mid range term of four years in prison”.

In reality the “mid range term” in this case was six years.

After the defendant was doing his prison sentence someone in the Department of Correction caught the “error” and brought it to the attention of the court. The court then brought the defendant back to the court and sentenced him to six years in prison. The defendants lawyers argued this was “double jeopardy” and violated the law to impose the six year sentence.
So what did the court of appeals decide? Unfortunately for the defendant the court held that it was not a violation of “double jeopardy” and it was legal to have the court “resentence” the defendant to the six year prison term.

The moral of the story. If the court makes a mistake about your sentence you need to pray that nobody catches it until after your prison sentence is over and you are released. The chances are very good that if you are able to complete your entire prison sentence and are released and nobody catches the error you wont be sent back to prison.

However, the good news is what this also means is that if you feel that you received an unlawful sentence, you have the legal right to retain our criminal defense law firm to review the situation and to bring a motion to have the error corrected and have your prison sentence or county jail sentence reduced. Please feel free to contact our law firm at 877-466-5245 so we can help you with your sentencing matter. We have been helping people for over 40 years with these types of difficult criminal defense issues.

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AUTHOR: Paul Wallin

Paul Wallin is one of the most highly respected attorneys in Southern California. His vast experience, zealous advocacy for his clients and extensive knowledge of many areas of the law make Mr. Wallin a premiere Southern California attorney. Mr. Wallin founded Wallin & Klarich in 1981. As the senior partner of Wallin & Klarich, Mr. Wallin has been successfully representing clients for more than 30 years. Clients come to him for help in matters involving assault and battery, drug crimes, juvenile crimes, theft, manslaughter, sex offenses, murder, violent crimes, misdemeanors and felonies. Mr. Wallin also helps clients with family law matters such as divorce and child custody.

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