From this story:
I’m curious as to why Waksal was given until July 2 to report to prison. Isn’t it SOP that guilty parties go to prison immediately upon sentencing?
Zev Steinhardt
The story didn’t mention Leavenworth or anything. Maybe it takes time to set up a suite at a Club Fed.
It may be different for those who weren’t convicted of a violent crime - they may get time to say goodbye to their families, make financial arrangements, etc. I seem to recall that when Betty Loren Maltese, the ex-mayor of Cicero, IL, was convicted on charges related to her Mafia-connected skimming of millions of dollars from the city’s coffers, she was given a month or two beforehand to make similar arrangements for care of her daughter (and to say goodbye), and so on. The time was cut drastically after the charge was made that she was spending most of her time gambling in casinos, and the government was worried that she was losing (or trying to) all of the money that she was fined before paying it back.
For what it’s worth, I once helped represent a white collar criminal defendant; he was sentenced to a year in jail and he got a few months before his sentence began to get his affairs in order etc. So I imagine this arrangement is pretty common.
I think it also has to do with whether the defendant has paid bail. If he has not paid bail…right to prison he goes. If he has paid bail and made all required appearances to that point, then he may be given extra time.
In law school I helped represent a “violent” criminal who had entered into a plea bargain. He was given a few weeks before starting his sentence so that an evaluation could be done by the bureau of prisons to determine which facility is best for holding the convict given their family and economic situation. In addition, the bureau of prisons also gave a reccomendation for length of sentence (as per the terms of the plea). The prosecutor was trying for 25 years, the bureau of prisons said 4 months. The judge compromised and gave the guy 12 years. We got him out in 12 weeks with the help of the staff of the bureau of prisons.
Moral of the story, if people are cooperating with the system…both before and after guilt is determined, the ride is going to be a lot less bumpy.
There was also a case here in Virginia last year, where a man accidentally left his baby in the car, and it died. He was convincted and sentenced to prison. The conviction happened in October, but the sentence didn’t start until February, IIRC, so he could spend the holiday with his family.