Most people worry about the terms of the sentence—whether or not jail or prison is involved, whether or not they will have to report to someone for probation, whether or not treatment is involved, how much money in fines, compensation, and restitution, and so forth.

A criminal sentence often involves a mix of variables. These variable often include a defendant’s prior criminal history, the seriousness of the crime, the attitude and desires of the victim, the recommendation of the District Attorney and/or Victim’s Services, a person’s activities in life and society, and so forth.

Without knowing these factors in greater details, it is difficult to give more specific information. It would be a good idea to call our offices to discuss this matter further.

Sentencing Guidelines
If the matter is a felony, then the sentence is often a blend of the crime’s seriousness, and the defendant’s criminal history. Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission has developed sentencing guidelines which create a presumed sentence known as a gridblock. It is called this because Crime Seriousness is ranked from 1 to 11 with 1 being the lowest in seriousness. Crimes ranked as a 1, 2, or a 3 are presumed to be sentenced as probation. Crimes ranked as 8 or higher are presumed to be sentenced to prison terms of various lengths. A person’s criminal history is given a rank from A through I, with A being the most serious and I being the least serious.

If your crime is a felony, there is by statute a presumed Crime Seriousness ranking. Your criminal history will determine the intersecting gridblock which will determine the level of probation or incarceration that you will receive.

It is possible for the judge to disregard this gridblock and “upwardly depart”—which means to increase the seriousness of the sentence by increasing the level of incarceration, or to “downwardly depart”—which means to decrease the level of incarceration. Typically a judge might upwardly depart because a criminal act was committed with “deliberate cruelty” or the victim was especially “vulnerable”. A judge might downwardly depart because the defendant cooperated with the police, or perhaps because the defendant has been crime free for a significant period of time.

Whatever the case, it is a good idea to seek the competent and knowledgeable counsel of an aggressive defense attorney. He/she will know how to advise you so that you can best demonstrate to a judge the worthiness of your situation and maximize the things that might cause a judge to have sympathy or understanding in your case. Give us a call today for a consultation on your matter and how to best handle your case to achieve the best possible result.