Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“So, now I’d like to take a little change in direction and talk about firearm enhancements. As you know, we publish ‘Crime, Justice & America’ magazine that goes inside the jail, and we wrote an article, actually one of our attorneys in another state wrote an article about firearm enhancements, and it was well received by everybody. Because they wanted to know ‘what happens if I use a gun’? And it is significant, it is serious, it is very life changing in many of those circumstances. Because they don’t think about it ahead of time. So, let’s talk about firearm enhancements. Essentially, what is a firearm enhancement, and how does it relate to the underlying crime?”
Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA
“So, generally speaking, a firearm enhancement is going to be, like here in the State of Washington, I guess it depends on the crime actually, but it’s an extra sentence on top of whatever sentence a defendant receives for the underlying crime. For instance, if somebody’s charged with ‘possession of narcotics with intent to deliver’, that crime right there has its own set of guidelines for sentencing. So, let’s say somebody in those guidelines, its 24 months in this particular instance. But that defendant was caught doing the crime with a gun. Then that gun, in that particular situation, would have a three-year added sentence on top of…”
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“Above the two years?”
Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA
“Above the two years. And here in the State of Washington, on a criminal sentence, the Department of Corrections has the ability to give people what’s called ‘good time’. So, it’s very common that maybe you get a third off of your time when you’re serving a sentence. The Department of Corrections does not have the ability to grant any ‘good time’ on that firearm enhancement. So, that three-year period would be served straight out and consecutive to any other sentence. So, it can really drastically change the landscape of a case when your talking about settlement or risks at trial, when there is a firearm that’s involved. And they’re commonly involved.”
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