{"id":716,"date":"2021-02-26T13:38:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T18:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=716"},"modified":"2026-01-08T04:05:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:05:01","slug":"florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Assesses the Reasonableness of a Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If a defendant is convicted of a crime, the court will typically weigh a variety of factors in determining an appropriate sentence. While there are many things that a court is permitted to evaluate in making an assessment, if a court is influenced by inappropriate information in developing a sentence, it may lead to an unjust result. In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/media.ca11.uscourts.gov\/opinions\/unpub\/files\/202011048.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Florida ruling<\/a> in a case in which the defendant was convicted of arson, a court discussed the evaluation of the reasonableness of a sentence under the prevailing law. If you are accused of arson or another crime of violence, it is advisable to speak to a seasoned Tampa violent crime defense lawyer about your options.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Defendant\u2019s Sentence<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is reported that the defendant was charged with arson after he took part in the burning of a car that was used in a drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of another person. He was initially charged with multiple crimes related to a racketeering conspiracy and was later charged with murder. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the arson charge, which carries a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of twenty years. He was sentenced to twelve years in prison, after which he appealed, arguing that his sentence was unreasonable and the court relied on inappropriate information in determining his sentence.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Evaluating the Reasonableness of a Sentence<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A court assessing the substantive reasonableness of a sentence must weigh the totality of the circumstances, including whether there was any deviation from the sentencing guidelines. A court may deem a sentence substantively unreasonable if it was based on impermissible factors, if the sentencing court failed to weigh appropriate factors, or if it was selected arbitrarily. The appellate court in the subject case noted, however, that a matter will only be remanded for re-sentencing in cases in which the court is left with a firm and clear conviction that the sentencing court committed a definite error in judgment in evaluating the relevant factors, which resulted in a sentence that lies outside of the scope of reasonable sentences as dictated by the facts of the case. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence\/#more-716\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a defendant is convicted of a crime, the court will typically weigh a variety of factors in determining an appropriate sentence. While there are many things that a court is permitted to evaluate in making an assessment, if a court is influenced by inappropriate information in developing a sentence, it may lead to an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-violent-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Is a Reasonable Sentence in Florida?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Understand how Florida judges decide if a sentence is reasonable and what factors matter most when a sentence is reviewed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What Is a Reasonable Sentence in Florida?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Understand how Florida judges decide if a sentence is reasonable and what factors matter most when a sentence is reviewed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/judges-gavel-with-legal-documents-on-desk.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is a Reasonable 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minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-assesses-the-reasonableness-of-a-sentence\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Florida Court Assesses the Reasonableness of a 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