Attorney Ray Richards, Detroit Michigan Sentence Mitigation Lawyer

Sentence mitigation: state and federal court nationwide

Sentencing is never a proceeding the accused wants to face. It means that the defense you presented before a judge or jury didn’t go the way you wanted it to go. It also could mean that the plea that you agreed to now puts you in the position of going to jail or probation. In some instances it becomes a numbers game based on sentencing grids or guidelines that the judge must follow as in State court or the guidelines a judge may follow or are advisory like in Federal court.

To cut to the chase – your life and your freedom depend on what happens at sentencing! It’s your last chance – short of an appeal that may take years depending on the complexity of the case – for damage control. We handle cases and situations that do just that – damage control to increase your chances of getting a more favorable sentence. We can work with or independent of your trial lawyer to meet this goal by doing the following …

  1. Presenting or filing sentencing memoranda or briefs which highlight why the judge should give you a lighter sentence, probation or a downward departure from the guidelines.
  2. Demanding and conducting a full sentencing hearing with testimony of witnesses favorable to you.
  3. Advising, and in some cases accompanying, the client in the crucial pre-sentence interview with the probation department.
  4. Presenting real, rational and resolution based non-custodial incarceration alternatives and having any witnesses or experts appear for the same (if necessary) to testify at the sentencing hearing.
  5. Request for the judge to set aside or withdraw the plea.
  6. Request for the judge to set aside the jury verdict and/or order a new trial.
  7. Request a stay of sentencing to allow for appeal (meaning stop the sentencing proceeding) which in some cases will delay jail or prison incarceration until the appeal is decided.

As you can see, we give you additional options that keep the fight ongoing after an unfavorable verdict or an ill-advised plea. At our firm, we don’t take the guilty plea as the last word on the case – or as a loss – we keep at it until justice prevails on your behalf! An example of our success was in a recent major federal drug conspiracy case. We kept our client out on bond fighting for a new trial for over a year by filing post-judgment motions that attacked questions and challenged the government tactics and witnesses that were the “foundation of their guilty verdict.”
It’s not over until we say it’s over!

Contact us

Please fill out the form below and our attorney will contact you.

!
!
!

Our Office