Why do some felony convictions result an immediate trip to jail, and others allow the convicted felon to remain free for months. Bladgojevich was convicted last June and sentenced to prison on 07-Dec-11, yet he doesn’t have to report to prison until February?
Two other cases: Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor, went to jail immediately upon his conviction, before he was sentenced. Here in Massachusetts, our former Speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi was convicted last June, sentenced in September, yet didn’t start serving his sentence until November 30th.
It would seem that if someone were convicted of a felony and that appeals were unlikely, they should start serving their sentence immediately upon conviction? Why wait? At the very least, why not start serving the sentence at the time of sentencing? What’s the logic of waiting months between sentencing and incarceration?
Delaying a sentence is within a judge’s discretion in federal courts. I don’t think state court judges generally have that discretion. Blagojevich and DiMasi were convicted in federal court, but Murray was convicted in a state court.
Might be that the slammer in question is short on space and they needed to release a few people before they could let more in. It isn;t like the jerk is going to go on a killing spree or anything. Flight risk maybe, but he really isn’t violent.
I believe it’s generally for people to “get their affairs in order”. Presumably, Blago has some things to arrange for if he’s going to be jailed for a decade.
You could argue that it’s mostly on the nice and friendly side.
Yea, he has two young daughters and a wife, its presumably in the publics interest to give people in his position a few weeks to get their families set up as best they can before they’re confined. And its not like there’s a high risk of his trying to sell another Senate seat if he isn’t confined immediately.
What was the difference between what the prosecution did at the first trial and what they did at the second trial? At the first trial, the defense believed the prosecution’s case to be so weak the defense didn’t even call any witnesses–and in fact the jury was hung.
But at the second trial, the jury found him guilty of most of the counts.
Yes, but he knew, at the time of conviction, that he was going to jail. He should have put his affairs in order BEFORE sentencing.
Felonies are serious crimes that should be punished. A felony conviction with little hope of appeal should be followed by an immediate trip from the courtroom to incarceration. Why allow any time at all?
They do. At least according to my husband’s lawyer. He was facing having to go to jail for some time recently (didn’t end up happening) and his lawyer said that generally yes, the judges would in fact allow him time to get things “settled” - he was looking at going in in January. It’s all a moot point now - but yes, the state judge could, at their discretion, allow some time between sentencing and beginning the time.
Blagojevich didn’t necessarily “know” he was going to prison at sentencing; his lawyers were asking for probation, even though he should have known that was a long shot (and probably did). Basically it comes down to his not being considered a flight risk, being unlikely to attempt to sell further senate seats in the interim, and the wide latitude given to a federal judge to take action as he or she thinks is appropriate.
My impression is that the length of his sentence was something of a surprise, and presumably going away for a few years takes a different sort of planning then spending the next decade and a half behind bars.
In anycase, it doesn’t really bother me. The guy got 14 years, whether he starts to serve it now or in a couple weeks, I think the punishment is adequate. I doubt any future Ill. Governors will sell Senate seats because they know that even if they get 14 years in jail if they get caught, they’ll be able to postpone it for a couple weeks.
Dunno, but it seems fairly common. Guy my dad worked for embezzeled some money, and they gave him a few weeks to complete sale of a pizza shop so his wife and kids would have something to live on before he went away. And Missy’s husbands lawyer apparent felt it was a common consideration.
Obviously its not going to happen for convicts likely to flee or use the time to commit more crimes, but it doesn’t seem like you need to be a Governor to get the same treatment.
I have to admit if I had been sentenced to fourteen years in prison, had Blagojevich’s resources, and had a last few weeks of freedom before reporting to prison, I’d be strongly considering the idea of fleeing the country and going someplace that doesn’t have extradition treaties with the United States. What precautions do they take to ensure Blagojevich or somebody like him doesn’t do this?
Well even for low-level criminals who get a little time to get themselves ready for a stretch behind bars, surrendering their passport is pretty much a given…
It’s Blagojevich leaving him with the ability to talk to the press gives the state even more opportunity to learn about other crimes he may have committed. He’s had plenty of time to flee if he wanted.
It’s in Illinois they may need the extra time to clear out the last governor. They can only hold so many politicians at a time you know, otherwise the cigarette trade gets out of control.