Reply #35: It's not "10-30"

[confrontationclaws]

There are no "indefinite" criminal sentences in Florida. The 10 to 30 year language in the story and the initial post is misleading. It's NOT like "he's doin' 5 to 10" as you sometimes hear in movies, or maybe from other states...whatever he's actually pleading to, or whatever the state has agreed to limit the possible sentence to, carries a RANGE of 10 to 30 years. When the judge sentences him, he'll get A SPECIFIC TERM of years, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, whatever the judge decides. The actual sentence will be one number, not a range of numbers.

Florida DOES have various career criminal and repeat/habitual offender provisions that in some ways equate to "three strikes." The 10 to 30 year range is a bit puzzling, and makes me think that maybe the state is allowing a plea to an "unarmed" robbery instead of an armed robbery, since no matter what, the maximum penalty for an armed robbery is life. And yes, that is draconian, and sends the message to robbers "shoot your victim, the death penalty is statistically unlikely and you'll have eliminated at least one witness...you've got nothing to lose."