If you’re convicted, how does the court decide what your sentence is?

There are a lot of factors that come into play, but basically, felonies are graded on a letter system: A being the most serious, E being the least serious. Misdemeanors, likewise, from A being the most serious, to C being the least serious. The court will normally request a pre-sentence report – that is unless the charge requires a mandatory prison term, or jail term.

In the event that it’s a DUI, course for a first offense it requires a mandatory 48 hours. In the event that it is certain drug-related or more serious felonies, there is not the opportunity for probation.

So all of those are factors that the judge will take into consideration, and it’s important that you have a skilled attorney, familiar with the system, and quite frankly, familiar with the judges and the way that they sentence folks in the East Tennessee area, in order to protect your rights. I believe that I am one of the most familiar, and I want to be your attorney. My name is T. Scott Jones. I can be reached at 865-546-2141, or at banksjones.com.