Miami Lawyer » Federal Criminal Defense - Grand Jury Proceedings and Indictment > Plea Agreements and Sentencing
Plea Agreements and Sentencing
If a defendant, decides to enter a plea of guilty in lieu of going to trial, then a sentencing hearing is scheduled at a later date. In federal court, the sentencing hearing typically takes on a larger role than sentencing hearings in state court. This is because in state courts, a defendant usually knows what his or hers sentence will be before he or she enters a guilty or no contest plea. Typically, the plea and sentence is already agreed upon between the State Attorneys Office, the defendant and the court. Many times, the state judge will directly get involved in plea negotiations between the State Attorneys Office and the defendant.
This is not the case in federal court. In federal court, federal judges do not get involved in plea negotiations. Moreover, if the defendant wants to plead guilty and enters a plea agreement with the United States Attorneys office, the agreement is not binding on the federal judge at sentencing. Thus, federal defendants enter open pleas of guilty to the judge, and the judge has the discretion to sentence the defendant to a term of imprisonment over an above the plea agreement. Although, federal judges typically rely on the federal sentencing guidelines to determine a final sentence, the federal sentencing guidelines are just guidelines, and the judge can go above or below the guidelines. Many factors go into scoring a defendant under the federal sentencing guidelines. Such factors can include whether the defendant cooperated with the with the United States Attorneys office in other criminal investigations, whether the defendant accepts responsibility for his actions and the degree of the defendant’s involvement in the criminal enterprise or activity.