St. Petersburg Prison Releasee Reoffender Lawyer

Criminal defense attorneys will often tout their trial and negotiation abilities to prospective clients in order to convince them to spend their hard earned money on a defense. And at the end of the day, if you are charged with a criminal offense, you should consider an attorney with a strong trial record and a deep legal acumen. However, there are other realities that defendants can often overlook and that lawyers sometimes fail to mention. That reality is that sometimes defendants are found guilty of the crimes they are accused of.

Criminal defense work does not stop at the trial or the plea. The story does not end when the jury’s verdict is read in court. Often times, that can be the real beginning of the hard work that must go into every criminal case. Sometimes the evidence of a person’s guilt can be overwhelming. Yet, just because someone is guilty of a crime, it does not necessarily mean that the punishment received is justified. No matter if you are guilty or innocent of a crime, you deserve the best possible representation and should not hesitate to retain a skilled St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyer.

After a defendant has been found guilty of a criminal offense, the sentencing portion of the case will begin. Sentencing is often as complex, if not more complex, than the factual portion of the criminal case. Criminal laws are notoriously convoluted and overbroad, and sentencing laws are no different. The legislature of our state has instituted so many complicated and draconian sentencing laws, that you must ensure that you retain an attorney with the skills and experience necessary to deal with them. One of these laws that carries extremely harsh punishments is known as the Prison Releasee Reoffender statute.

At its most basic, the Prison Releasee Reoffender or PRR statute punishes certain people who are convicted of crimes much more harshly than others. If you are designated a Prison Releasee Reoffender, the maximum penalty for your crime flips and becomes the minimum mandatory penalty. For example, a Prison Releasee Reoffender convicted of a third degree felony will receive a mandatory five year prison sentence. The same person convicted of a second degree felony will receive a fifteen year prison sentence. A first degree felony will carry a mandatory thirty year sentence. And a life felony will be punished by a mandatory life sentence. Being designated a Prison Releasee Reoffender is no joke and you should take it seriously by consulting with a skilled St. Petersburg criminal defense attorney.

The increased minimum mandatory penalties are relatively simple. The qualifications for whether a person is or is not PRR is where the complex legal analysis comes in. The first step to determine whether someone qualifies as PRR is to look at the current criminal charges they are facing. If a person is charged with any crime listed under Florida Statute 775.082(9)(a)1, the first element of PRR is met. Section (9)(a)1 primarily includes violent offenses like robbery, murder and kidnapping. Next, the state must establish that the offense was committed within three years of the defendant’s release from incarceration. Incarceration is defined under the statute as any form of imprisonment or supervision for a felony offense. This means that if you were released from prison in 2010 and alleged to commit a qualifying offense in 2012, you can be designated PRR. But it also means that if you successfully complete ten years of probation that terminates in 2010 with no issues, and are alleged to have committed the same offense in 2012, you can still be PRR.

The attorneys at Hanlon Law have years of experience dealing with complex criminal sentencing issues including Prison Releasee Reoffenders. Call us today for a consultation at 727.289.0222.