Fungo Squiggly
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Gatorubet;2069169; said:Well, it may not be "fair", but it is a common practice for a judge to give a stiffer sentence to an offender when the judge thinks that offender may have done something else - or worse - than the charge for which they were found guilty.
Now, this is not a criminal matter, obviously, but the fact remains that juries and judges are human. If they thought that violations occurred that they could not uncover because of the no-subpoena power limitation, then they may (and I mean may) have done what judges often do - give a sentence that is on the "high" end of the possible range because of some thoughts they had that the offender they were sentencing was getting away with something.
To be sure, they should NOT do that to an extreme. They should only judge the merits of the evidence in the case directly before them. To do otherwise is unfair, and literally penalizing you for things you have not done (or have not been proven in any event). But I have to say that human nature is still in play - and that I have seen this occur again and again in action in real life adjudications. I don't think you can rule out some kind of "high end of the scale" result because of that situation.
I wish you could drop this bowl. I have a bad feeling about your guys finding some extra motivation for the juniors now that you did not have before.
Gatorubet;2069388; said:The rules for proving what was done and the rules used in sentencing are entirely different. Again, using a criminal trial analogy, the quote you posted of mine is correct about the level of proof and evidence used to convict someone of - say - manslaughter. That match of proof/evidence to the crime has to be very tight. Once convicted, you go to the sentencing phase. In that situation there is usually a sentencing range - say time already served to 20 years in jail. There is a whole lot of discretion in sentencing. So whether the judge gives you ten years or twenty depends on how bad a deal it was. And if you have prior convictions. And if you likely committed 2nd degree murder, but the proof was lacking because some technicality threw some evidence out and the jury came in manslaughter. Or the judge was [censored]ed.
Here, like all penalty phases, there is a range of possible punishments that is subject to a whole lot of discretion and latitude. I was pointing out that that the committee may have been thinking TP's refusal to cooperate indicated some worse stuff was out there. That, and how mad they were at Tress. The 5 years shows they were really, really mad.
So like I say, being human, those factors can affect a judge's thoughts on sentencing to make them go to the high side of the range instead of the low side. Nothing about my post you quoted changed that view. I'm glad its over and you can move on.
Translated:
We can punish you for something completely un-proven if we prove you have done something else wrong and THINK there was more.
We can't punish you for something unproven if we don't have anything on you.
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