Legal Question in Criminal Law in Louisiana

illegal sentencing

a good friend of mine was given a sentence for theft. The judge sentenced him to ''10 years in the department of corrections. will suspend that on the condition that he serve five years in DOC. He will then be placed on five years of active probation after he gets out, and during that period of probation he will pay one thouseand dollars at least a month toward his resitituion.'' So what is suspended? to me it looks like he got a 15 year sentence. I thought the max was 10 years.

please can someone explain this to me


Asked on 1/26/04, 1:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nick Pizzolatto, Jr. Pizzolatto Law Office

Re: illegal sentencing

Since I was not there, and lay persons rarely get the particulars of a sentence correctly, it appears that 5 years of the sentence was suspended and he was to serve 5 years. I am just guessing here, but it might be that he was in jail unable to make bond, and since he automatically gets credit for time served, he may have enough time+credit equal to 5 years, so that he could be released immediately or shortly after sentencing and so he is backing up 5 years if he violates probation......

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Answered on 1/26/04, 2:25 pm


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