Q: We are down to the wire now Lewis Sanford is set to be sentenced Monday to a prison term of 6 yrs or 10.5 for possession
It's clear the prosecutor completely hates Lewis and has not been open to any negotiating and we feel our 7,000 dollars got us not alot of fight from our attorney but then again we don't know if he has done all he can yet ? Louie is guilty of possession not possession with intent there is on record of discussion, at plea hearing ,talk in judges chambers of some promises and more and judge said it's ok they did it for their safety . We just wanna know is this it , have we done everything we can but He needs to talk to someone to explain everything we will pay for video conference or a visit something anything to ease our minds before Monday morning
A:
There is not a whole lot anyone can do at this point. Your attorney's job at this point is to advocate for whatever terms of the plea agreement and as low of a sentence as that agreement allows. For better or worse, Lewis plead guilty to PWID, not possession. Regardless if there were talks made in chambers, what matters is what was put on the record in open court, and to which Lewis stated on the record he understood and agreed. Courts take pleas very seriously, and always ask a series of questions to ensure that everyone understands what is happening. The main question asked is: "has anyone promised or threatened you with anything to get you to plead guilty that has not be placed on the record today". For the court to accept the plea, Lewis would have answered "no" to that question. And so what he (and you) can expect Monday is for the judge to sentence him to something consistent with that agreement.
The time for negotiation is over, unfortunately. He could try to withdraw his plea, but then he'll just go to trial on everything with no offer, and takes what comes with that. Even then, the judge doesn't have to allow him to withdraw his plea at this point. And afterward, it's even harder to withdraw a plea because the presumption is that you are just unhappy with the sentence.
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