How will my sentence be decided in Florida?
Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right
Video Transcript
Your sentence will be decided by a judge. Your sentence may be somewhat determined by whether or not you enter a negotiated plea agreement with the state. However, ultimately it’s a judge who decides what someone will be sentenced to, whether you enter a negotiated plea, or whether you go to trial and end up being convicted. A jury doesn’t decide what somebody gets sentenced to unless we’re talking about a situation where someone is charged with a capital crime, where they could be punished by death. Otherwise, a judge is always going to be the one who decides what you’re sentenced to, even if they will give consideration to what you may have worked out with the state in terms of a plea negotiation.