> The 35 years number bandied about is a press release number. In press releases prosecutors calculate possible sentences using a method that is completely unrealistic unless the person being charged is essentially the Hitler of the part of the crime world they operate in.
In press releases, prosecutors calculate the maximum possible sentence using a method that is perfectly accurate: take the maximum sentences for each charge and sum them.
This is often not the probable sentence, but then they don't claim it is. It may not be what either side would argue the Sentencing Guidelines would justify, but:
(1) The facts relevant to sentencing guidelines are legally undecided at the time of press releases, and
(2) The Guidelines, while usually followed, are not mandatory, and both upward and downward departures within legal minimums and maximums are allowed. So assuming at least one charge without a mandatory minimum is charged, the legal outer limit is the only certain thing about the potential sentence.
In press releases, prosecutors calculate the maximum possible sentence using a method that is perfectly accurate: take the maximum sentences for each charge and sum them.
This is often not the probable sentence, but then they don't claim it is. It may not be what either side would argue the Sentencing Guidelines would justify, but:
(1) The facts relevant to sentencing guidelines are legally undecided at the time of press releases, and
(2) The Guidelines, while usually followed, are not mandatory, and both upward and downward departures within legal minimums and maximums are allowed. So assuming at least one charge without a mandatory minimum is charged, the legal outer limit is the only certain thing about the potential sentence.