Felony

Client was on community control for a burglary of a dwelling. client violated community control but not being at his home on 3 separate dates in January and February. Client scored 60 months prison as minimum mandatory sentence under the guidelines. The state would not offer below 60 months. we set the case for a plea conference with the judge an explained the circumstances. During plea conference, judge said she doesn’t believe client’s explanation and finds that client’s family was lying for him and covering for him. We asked judge to take into consideration how young client was when he first committed the offense, how he has a new baby he didn’t even know existed, and letters we tendered to the court from his employer and social worker. it took over an hour of argument but the judge finally agreed to reinstate client’s community control with a GPS monitor. Client’s family was thrilled and brought to tears because they expected client to go to prison. While incarcerated for his sentence client learned he was a father. The mother overdosed and is now in prison. Client can now start fresh and get a second chance to be a father to his son instead of spending the next 5 years in prison.