Florida's 10/20/25 to Life Law

[Voxvertis]

I was wondering if someone could shed a little light on Florida's minimum sentencing requirement
when a gun was used while committing a felony. A little background: One of my neighbors has a 25 year old son, a real punk, who ended up shooting his girlfriend after she realized what a waste he was and told him to get lost.
He was arrested and is charged with several felonies, including attempted murder. His father and sister are nice and have come to me for advise. He is in jail and can't post the $150,000 worth of bonds it would require to spring him. He also has a prior felony on his record. My understanding is that he faces a minimum of 25 years
in prison before he is eligible for parole. I have also been told that because of his priors, the sentence is doubled. Anyone know if this is accurate? They have also been trying to get the victim to not press charges, but I believe it isn't up to her to bring the charges: It is in the hands of the State Attorney. Any imput will be appreciated.

 

[96Nole]

Trying to get her to not press charges? If someone shot me it would take a hell of a lot more money to get me to not press charges than the $150K to bail his butt out.

 

[NoleFan2U]

Next they will ask you to post his bail.

 

[SeaPA]

Trying to get her to not press charges? If someone shot me it would take a hell of a lot more money to get me to not press charges than the $150K to bail his butt out.

Yeah, if someone shoots me with the intent to kill me, I don't think I'm gonna pass on pressing charges. Only way I'd consider it is if I already had an "eraser" lined up to take the guy out as soon as he got out of jail.

 

[montconole]

Are you a lawyer or did you stay at a Holiday Inn Expresss?

 

[jtnole10]

With a prior felony this sounds like a potential life sentence

 

[AllNoles]

http://www.ammoland.com/2014/03/its-not-about-warning-shots-the-fl-10-20-life-law-is-being-misused/#axzz3gx1ImkCZ

If he's convicted there is no discretion in sentence. There's a case with a dad who fired a warning shot to scare his daughters BF who got 20 for this reason. The case has been criticized by a lot but it's still the law.

If I recall correctly he can enter a plea that's not tied to the law (I helped a friend who was attacked by her husband and he fired a gun during the attack; the state offered him deals much less than 10-20-life required, but when he was convicted there was no discretion and he got 40+ years).

 

[NDallasRuss]

I was wondering if someone could shed a little light on Florida's minimum sentencing requirement
when a gun if used while committing a felony. A little background: One of my neighbors has a 25 year old son, a real punk, who ended up shooting his girlfriend after she realized what a waste he was and told him to get lost.
He was arrested and is charged with several felonies, including attempted murder. His father and sister are nice and have come to me for advise. He is in jail and can't post the $150,000 worth of bonds it would require to spring him. He also has a prior felony on his record. My understanding is that he faces a minimum of 25 years
in prison before he is eligible for parole. I have also been told that because of his priors, the sentence is doubled. Anyone know if this is accurate? They have also been trying to get the victim to not press charges, but I believe it isn't up to her to bring the charges: It is in the hands of the State Attorney. Any imput will be appreciated.

Not to get all judge-ey, but maybe your only advice to them should be to consider themselves lucky that their POS son/brother didn't try to kill them, and that it's really a net gain to the rest of the world if he spends the rest of his life in jail.

 

[KitingHigh]

http://www.ammoland.com/2014/03/its-not-about-warning-shots-the-fl-10-20-life-law-is-being-misused/#axzz3gx1ImkCZ

If he's convicted there is no discretion in sentence. There's a case with a dad who fired a warning shot to scare his daughters BF who got 20 for this reason. The case has been criticized by a lot but it's still the law.

If I recall correctly he can enter a plea that's not tied to the law (I helped a friend who was attacked by her husband and he fired a gun during the attack; the state offered him deals much less than 10-20-life required, but when he was convicted there was no discretion and he got 40+ years).

Not a fan of laws that take discretion away. Cases like the linked one above show one reason why.

In the case mentioned by the OP, I don't see how discretion is gonna help. If he tried to kill the girl because she broke up with him, he deserves to be in jail.

 

[DanC78]

http://www.ammoland.com/2014/03/its-not-about-warning-shots-the-fl-10-20-life-law-is-being-misused/#axzz3gx1ImkCZ

If he's convicted there is no discretion in sentence. There's a case with a dad who fired a warning shot to scare his daughters BF who got 20 for this reason. The case has been criticized by a lot but it's still the law.

If I recall correctly he can enter a plea that's not tied to the law (I helped a friend who was attacked by her husband and he fired a gun during the attack; the state offered him deals much less than 10-20-life required, but when he was convicted there was no discretion and he got 40+ years).

That article is insane. And it really has me confused now. How did Zimmerman get off? How can you use the Stand Your Ground argument if this law exist????

 

[AllNoles]

If I recall correctly from the more balanced news stories it was pretty clear no one was in danger when the guy fired the gun. The jury certainly didn't think it was a justified use of the weapon.

The NRA story is a bit more one sided but was the first that popped up on the Google. In the end I think the real issue is that even if he shouldn't have fired the gun no was was hurt or even potentially hurt. He was trying to scare the kid. That was wrong but hard to justify 20 years day for day, especially when had he tried to kill he kid with a knife he's likely have gotten 8-10 and been out sooner.

 

[KitingHigh]

That article is insane. And it really has me confused now. How did Zimmerman get off? How can you use the Stand Your Ground argument if this law exist????

It's a sentencing law. Zimmerman wasn't found guilty, so he wasn't sentenced.

 

[DanC78]

It's a sentencing law. Zimmerman wasn't found guilty, so he wasn't sentenced.

so if Zimmeran were found guilty they would have then used the 10-20 law...if they wanted?

 

[AllNoles]

Not if they wanted. If he was convicted it would have been of gun crime and he fired it. I would think it would have been mandatory.

That said I'm not 100% sure how it applies to manslaughter.

 

[DanC78]

so if Zimmeran were found guilty they would have then used the 10-20 law...if they wanted?

I'm so confused.

Calling @FSUTribe76

 

[KitingHigh]

so if Zimmeran were found guilty they would have then used the 10-20 law...if they wanted?

I'm not a lawyer, so I can't answer. I do know that it certainly doesn't apply if the accused isn't convicted.