Hi all!

Since I saw Somerset appears to be having the same issue as Armstrong, I wanted to check what is normal throughout the counties in re Probation Departments.

In Armstrong, both of our judges appear to always sentence in accordance with the recommendation from the Probation Department prepared in the PSI. This is especially concerning in 2 areas: when the DA & PD both miscalculated a Prior Record Score, and when the DA & PD agree to a deal outside of standard range. There have additionally been times when the DA & PD have agreed to run cases concurrent, the Probation Department recommendation in the PSI recommends consecutive, & the Judge almost always goes with the Probation Department recommendation.

We then further have waiver language on our plea deals, explicitly stating that the judges are allowed to sentence outside of the plea agreement & that clients cannot withdrawal a plea for that reason (though our DA will often consent as they dislike the waiver language). This waiver language is required by our PJ & I can’t tackle that challenge without negatively impacting my clients (I am quite sure it will require either J Board action or refusal to sign any plea deals until it’s removed. Our PJ is stubborn.) This obviously is an issue when PRS is wrong though, as my clients are typically looking at additional months of jail time without any knowledge prior to pleading guilty, and our Judges do not appear to honor any agreements between DA & PD.

We also have this issue with revocation hearings, where even when the DA and PD agree, the Judge will still go with the recommendation from the Probation Department. Most notably, in a case I have pending appeal, the DA agreed with the PD position that guidelines for the charge were probation to 1 month and stated as such to the Court. The Probation Department agreed that those were the standard guidelines, but because my client had picked up 2 additional charges (one of which was a wrongful accusation that the DA withdrew; the other was a 1st DUI/Fleeing) recommended 2 to 5 years at DOC. The Judge went with 2 to 5 years at DOC over my strenuous objections.

Basically I’ll have been in my position for a year on Wednesday, so I’m still trying to figure out what battles are necessary to fight, and which are bigger than I am able to tackle myself. So I guess I was just wondering if others were having similar issues here. This does not feel normal at all to me, but I want to know also if it’s a systemic issue across the state that’s going to be exceptionally difficult for me to try to fix in my County without assistance.

Best,
Liz

Sent from my iPhone