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Presumptive Sentences in Tennessee

By Baker Associates

Criminal sentencing can be a confusing issue for many defendants. For example, if a defendant is looking at a Class B felony conviction, he or she will be looking at eight to thirty years. Obviously there is a huge difference between serving eight years in prison and serving thirty years in prison, meaning the decision-making process behind determining where in the range of possible sentences to sentence a defendant is of primary importance in criminal cases. Tennessee law sets forth a ?presumptive sentence? for each of its five felony classifications. Being the ?presumptive sentence? means that sentence is the appropriate one for that felony classification in the absence of mitigating or enhancement factors. Most importantly for criminal defendants, the use of a presumptive sentence forbids the court from imposing a higher sentence unless the sentencing court determines that enhancement factors exist by a preponderance of the evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).