A Day of Observation in Judicial Court- Part 6: Commonality

Common Threads and Underlying Processes 

Both the private and public attorney pretrial sessions involved the defense discussing the filing of writs, a formal order issued by a legal authority, to lessen the criminal sentence by requesting evidence be withheld (Legal Information Institute, n.d). The defense often asked the judge for more time to file these claims, speak to witnesses, or take other measures to better their case. Judge Case was more likely to grant additional time to attorneys who experienced State delays while accumulating their defense. 

Judge Case frequently mentioned in the public and private pretrial sessions that the defendant’s score indicated a mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum sentence. Come to find out, Florida uniquely measures the defendant’s eligibility for serving time in prison through a criminal code scoresheet. The more severe the crime or the number of victims, the more points are scored. The more points scored by the defendant, the higher the sentence will likely be (Florida Criminal Punishment Code, 2019). These score sheets are required for all felony charges to ensure consistent sentencing practices. Points are measured based on the primary offense, it’s severity, whether it was an attempt, solicitation, conspiracy, or reclassification, additional offenses, their severity, prior offenses, number of victim’s, victim injury levels, and whether sexual assault or sexual contact was involved (Florida Criminal Punishment Code, 2019).