Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

With regard to criminal offenses, the circumstances surrounding the offense are often critical in determining both how a defendant is charged and how a defendant is sentenced if he or she is convicted. In many cases, the events occur in a particular order or in a particular way that makes the difference in whether or not the defendant is subjected to much more serious punishment than the defendant would be absent the particular circumstances. For an example, look to State v. White, a case that recently came before the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

In White, an issue arose as to whether or not the victim suffered serious bodily injury during the commission of a robbery. If the victim did suffer such injury during the commission of the offense, the defendant would be facing a Class B felony charge of especially aggravated robbery which carries a thirty year maximum prison turn. However, if the victim did not suffer the injury during the commission of the offense, the defendant would be looking at the Class C felony charge of aggravated robbery, which carries a fifteen year maximum prison term. The difference in this case was thus a possible fifteen year prison sentence increase.