I am looking for someone who is willing to take on a case for an incarcerated man. He has been in the DOC for 17 years, that includes the two years he's done at the county jail. Now here is the case. He was the driver of a car when the passenger decided that he was going to commit a crime. The passenger ended up killing one and wounding two others. The shooter was charged and took a plea deal. His sentence says that he has to do 25 years max but he got a life sentence for all three charges. Now the driver got a life sentence as well for 2nd degree murder and 15 years for attempted 2nd degree murder with a firearm on all three charges. He was able to get the firearms charged reversed through appeal. Is there anything else that he can do or does he need some legal assistance to help him out. I know for a fact that he is sorry for what went down because he never intended for anyone to get hurt. At trail, he had a public defender who argued that he thought that the shooter was only going to shoot up in the air to scare some people. Now what he did by driving the car was wrong, but I don't feel that his role should have been given a life sentence. I'm sorry, this all happened in St. Lucie County which is in Florida.

Not sure what you want an attorney to do ? Driving the car for a crime * or having any part of the crime* and someone gets killed, yes that makes the crime, they don't have to pull the trigger

** example, lets say they did just shoot into the air, but a police officer saw it and he ran up and pulled his gun, they did not drop theirs, but the police officer filed but missed and killed one of the other people.

Guess what they still get charged with the murder even though the police officer actually fired the shot.

That is how the laws are written, so he is guilty.

And to be honest there are plenty of men and women in prison who are sorry, in fact all of them act and say they are, till they get out.

But lets say he really had changed, so with a life sentence, he most likely got a first parole hearing what at 15 years ?

But making an appeal to the governor for a pardon or working on a parole would be the way to go.

You might try contacting The Innocence Project - Home

But this doesn't sound like a case they will take on. If I understand you, he was aware the passenger was going to commit a crime. If that is true then he is guilty of felony murder and deserves the sentence he received.

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Originally Posted by lovedbyany

Is there anything else that he can do or does he need some legal assistance to help him out.

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Hello l:

After 17 years, I'm assuming that he's exhausted his appeals. There isn't that much helping out left.

excon

To all comments. I am not saying that he is not guilty but I think that after 17 years, he has learned his lesson. He is still filing appeals. He's did 3.800, and 3.850 now he's doing a habes (hope I spelled that right). He is truly sorry for what happened and I'm not going to say that he actually knew that the dude was going to shoot at anybody and maybe he does deserve the sentence that he got, but God forgives us and gives us chance after chance. Now I also know for a fact that if he ever gets a second chance as a free man, he will not be going back there. I know about jail house talk and I know that he's changed. But what gets me is that I find other cases where people are charged with the same thing and they do not get life, could that be because of the area it was committed in? Also thank you all for your honest input.

Oh, no, he has not had a parole hearing yet because it is just coming up on 15 yrs, two and a half were at the county jail waiting for trial. With Governor Scott, he can hang up getting a pardon. Now he has had trouble when he first went in, but he has matured since then and has a job that he goes to everyday while in there. So he's being a good prisoner. So what you are telling me is that there maybe a small hope of him getting paroled? Also, how many parole hearings do they get?

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Originally Posted by lovedbyany

To all comments. I am not saying that he is not guilty but I think that after 17 years, he has learned his lesson.

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Then you have two choices. 1) to get the Governor to commute his sentence. 2) To get a parole.

P.S. when posting a follow-up question or info, please use the Answer options at the bottom of the page rather than the Comments. You don't need to post the same comment for each response. I've cleaned up the thread for you.

Hello.
Scott thank you for your answer and help. Maybe you can tell us how to/best way to try and get the governor to commute his sentence.

Hello again, l:

You've just elected the most right wing governor Florida has had in decades... He isn't about to commute ANYBODY'S sentence.

excon

You are confusing God and the legal system.

I'm sure he's a family member who has repented and is remorseful. However, the fact still remains that had it not been for his participation he shooter would have had to walk to the crime scene - and possibly given up before he got there.

I doubt very much someone involved in this type of shooting will receive a pardon. Again, it's your family member and I'm sorry you're going through this... but there is another side and I hear nothing about an unfair trial.

I just hear (second hand) testimony which the Court/jury did not believe.

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Originally Posted by lovedbyany

I am looking for someone who is willing to take on a case for an incarcerated man. ...

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Bottom line here is this: you are not going to find a lawyer on this forum who will or can take your case.

• Forum rules don't allow us to establish personal contacts with you outside of this forum.
• And that problem aside, even if I wanted to help you, I don't see anything that could be done.

I didn't elect the govenor that I have. Thank you all for your input, it was helpful.

I'm sorry we could provide you more positive help, I would still contact the Innocence Project and see what help they can offer.