Explore the Judicial Review for Sentence Modification
Have you or a loved one been convicted of a crime in the state of Oklahoma? Have you asked whether there’s a way to have that sentence reduced? Hi, I’m Oklahoma City Attorney Aaron Easton, and the answer to your question is, well, there might be. Today, I want to talk about one of the tools that the state of Oklahoma has to reduce a sentence, which may obviously result in you or your loved one getting out of prison or jail potentially much earlier than originally anticipated, depending on the sentence that was handed down.
And that tool is called the Judicial Review for Sentence Modification, and judicial reviews are governed under Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Section 982A. Basically what it is, is it permits the trial court that handed down your sentence to review your case, where it stands the current day, and consider modifying that sentence, meaning reducing that sentence, and that can take a lot of forms.
Understanding the Process and Factors
Now, not surprisingly, as most things with the law can be a little confusing, and there’s a process involved, and there are a lot of factors that go into whether or not you can be successful on a sentence modification. Some of the big-ticket items that the court’s going to look at is, how long ago was it that you were sentenced? Were you just sentenced last week? Were you sentenced some time ago and you’ve served a portion of that sentence? What was the length of the sentence that was handed down? What type of crime were you convicted for? What are the minimum and maximum sentences that can be handed down for that crime?
How were you convicted? Were you convicted by a jury at a jury trial? Were you convicted by and sentenced by a judge through a bench trial? Or did you make a plea agreement with the district attorney and your sentence came about that way? And also, what’s your prior history? What was your history, your criminal history, like prior to this conviction? If this conviction has been some time ago and you’ve served time in jail or prison since then, what has your history been like during that sentence? So these are all the kind of things that a court’s going to look at when deciding whether or not they feel you deserve to have your sentence reduced.
Get a Initial Consultation
The statute is modified, but let’s be honest, it’s a sentence reduction. So if you feel like you might be a candidate, you or your loved one, might be a candidate for having your sentence reduced after conviction in the state of Oklahoma, I highly recommend you speak to a legal expert that works in that field. You’re welcome to contact me for a initial consultation on the matter. I’d be happy to look at what your case is and let you know the probability or the likelihood that you might be looking at getting your sentence modified. And you can reach me by phone at (918) 932-2833 or online at postconviction.lawyer.