Q: Lawyer promised judge would suspend time in open plea and the prosecution team did as well, but the judge did not.
I plead guilty but had a change of heart and withdrew the plea, I was about to walk out of court and the prosecution team and public defender came to me saying the judge would suspend time, but when I went back to plea he gave the maximum time offered from prosecution.
A: This is something that happens quite a good bit. Unfortunately, even though the prosecution and the defender may agree to a particular recommendation, the judge is not required to accept that recommendation. Usually, during the plea hearing, the judge will ask a series of questions to make sure that a person understands that, to include a question as to whether a defendant has been promised a particular result.
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