Do All Felony Convictions Go To Prison?

Bail Bond Cowboys wants the public to have answers to the myriad of questions that surround the criminal justice system and your constitutional rights. We bring those answers to you in the form of video interviews by Attorneys.Media of legal experts in your area and across the country.

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“Well, you talked about felony versus misdemeanor. Do all felonies, once conviction occurs, do all felonies go to state prison?”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“No. Not all of them do. There’s a new statutory scheme…I shouldn’t say it’s new, it’s been around awhile. It’s Penal Code Section 1170. It does provide that state prison confinements can be local. So, you could do your term in Santa Rita if you’re an Alameda County defendant. There’s also the possibility that someone could get a felony and be given probation.”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize that.”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“In fact, I will say this…I had a client today, at sentencing, he had a four-year top deal. Previously, he had four cases. Two of them involved evading a police officer because he fled, and two of them had guns. And he had priors. So I was pretty happy with a four-year ‘top’, meaning the Judge was going to look at the deal, if he accepted it, was going to not be able to go beyond four years. And what we were able to do was to get the defendant a two-year sentence. And then he had enough credits, so he was given what is called a ‘paper commitment’. He was technically in state prison and was released today because he was already out on bail. But he did enough time, he got enough credits to meet the one-year obligation, 50% time, of a two-year sentence. And he got probation on that felony.”