Help needed

[Dios]

Hi,

Hope this comes to right section.

I'm doing little research conserning cases of late rapper Tupac Shakur and I'm hoping if somebody could help me understand certain things. This is really some basic stuff but I'm not so familiar with law in USA so I need help.

First of all, in 1995 Tupac convicted for sexual abuse and sentence was 1 1/2-4 1/2 year, after 11 months he was bailed out pending an appeal. Bail was 1,4 million dollars.

Okay, here's few questions. How can sentence time be so uncertain? When exact time would determined? What term pending an appeal really means? I red it means something like "the removal of a case from an inferior court to a superior court for review", but how that really works? Does that mean if you are bailed out and pending an appeal is made that means after the matter is cleared you could end up back to jail? And how fast pending an appeal things are handled normally in this kind of cases? State was New York in this matter. I have more questions but let's clear these ones first. Thanks.

 

[NYClex]

Most foreigners are pretty surprised by the way American sentencing works. In Europe, if you are convicted for a crime, the judge will tell you exactly how many days you will spend in jail and you can start drawing a calendar onto your cell wall and count. If he says 180 days, it will be 180 days. Unless the corrections board decides to let you go earlier because of good behavior etc.

Example: Jacques robbed a bank in Paris. He gets caught and the judge sentences him to 1 year and 6 months in prison. On January 1 he enters prison. He knows, he will be released latest on June 30 the year after this year. But, actually he is nice to the warden and waters the warden's wife's flowers in the prison garden every day so they decide to give him "time off" for good behavior, here half time. So they release him on September 30, after he served 9 months. His official sentence record will always read 1 year 6 months.

In the U.S. the system is somewhat different, but basically with the same result. Jack robs a bank in New York. He gets caught and the judge sentences him to 6 months to 18 months prison. Jack enters prison on January 1. Now he does not really know when he will be allowed to go, he only knows it will definitely not be before June 30 this year and definitely not later than June 30 next year. But he is smart, he offers to wash the warden's SUV every day, the warden will let the parole board know and they will let him go on August 1 the first year. He will have served 7 months.

This is the process in a nutshell, of course in detail it might be a little different in reality (Inmates don't wash cars or water flowers nowadays )

In other words: In most countries the judge tells you just the maximum length of your sentence when he reads the verdict. In the United States he tells you a maximum range of the sentence. In both countries the parole board or a similar institution will decide later how long you actually will be in prison.


Release on bail pending appeal means that the convicted does not have to go to prison until a higher court has decided on his appeal. As a security he has to pay a sum of money to the court which would be forfeited if he does not show up once he is ordered to. That process exists in most coutries in the world.

Example: Jack is accused of having robbed a bank. He is arrested, tried and convicted. He is sentenced to 4 to 5 years in prison. Normally Jack is a really nice and harmless guy, everyone knows him, nobody can understand how he should have done that, he poses no risk of flight. But his attorney files an appeal, because he thinks the prosecutor and the judge really messed up Jack's trial and that the conviction will be reversed by a higher court. He asks the higher court to look at the trial, how it was handled and everything and to reverse the conviction. This might take a year. He asks the judge not to imprison Jack during that year, because it really would destroy Jack, and it is likely Jack is innocent and very unlikely that he would flee. The judge agrees and says: Jack, I know it would break your wife's heart if you would take off and leave her not a penny. So I release you, but I want you to pay $ 100,000, all your savings, as bail, so I know you will not take off. If you show up one year from now in court, you will get the money back. If not, the state keeps the money and we will arrest you anyway.

Now after one year the appeals court looks at the case. They decide, no, the judge and the prosecutor did not make any mistake, the trial was fair, the jury reasonably found Jack guilty. They affirm the verdict. Now Jack has to go to prison and serve his original sentence. If he shows up on the day they set to start his sentence, he will be given back the bail money, though.

Nobody can say in advance how long an appeal takes. I know cases where it took five years or longer. Sometimes it takes less than a year. It really depends on the court.

 

[Dios]

Thanks a lot from help. I have some questions that came to my mind when I read your very helpful text.

How fast usually parole board will decide the length of Jack's sentence from that moment he enters the jail?

How about, how far away sentencing day usually is from the trial?

If I understood correctly, if Jack's appeal is not accepted, he must start he's whole sentence from start? Time he was in jail before appeal don't count?