The perp in your case could get life for simply posessiong guns while on parole alone, even if he had not committed a single crime - especially possible if your judge is a tough one.
The two cases I went through are an example of many things, including how the legal system views repeat offenders vs people previously perceived as outstanding members of the community. For me personally, it stirred up prior trauma both times too.
In my first case, the guy was a leader in the community who had no prior criminal record. He confessed to multiple rapes of multiple women. He did not go to trial. He got an average of 1 month for each confessed rape. I still have a hard time talking about the judge's explaination as to why - that part is what got to me. Not the time, but the explaination. It was even more screwed up than the Standford rapist's explaination. The judge basically said it wasn't such a big deal because of how much the guy had given to the community over his lifetime
and because most of his victims were disabled so it didn't impact them as much as it would have disabled victims. My disability wasn't viable at that point in my life and I was considered to be an anomaly in the pattern, except I wasn't. But it was such a f*cked up reason... It was pretty retraumatizing to hear. It felt like my family all over again saying it was not that big a deal for my father to hurt me, everyone loves him, blah blah.
The judge's actions, someone who is normally a tough judge, fueled me to not let anyone in the system run me over ever again. Ever.
The second case was elevated because I am a visually disabled person. That perp was charged for a higher offense than he would have been if I had not been disabled, so it was a case that was handled very differently right from the get go. very differently. The second case also did not go to trial, but the perp confessed in the courtroom, quite tearfully. It was before a very perp sympathetic judge, but that sentencing went very differently. The second perp received the max jail time but no requirement for drug treatment upon release. I had asked for required drug treatment upon release in my victim impact statement. I had also explained every impact the crime had on me and my fear he would reoffend. The second perp was much more repentant and owning of his guilt. He had also had prior convictions for other types of crime, and had done time for those.
It was confusing when he was sentenced - and no matter what the sentence, it was likely to be a confusing and hard thing for me. The validation of a long prison sentence and for actually elevating the crime to a higher felony because of the same reason the other guy almost got off with a slap on the wrist.... The validation hurt. It made the prior injustice seem all the greater.
And at the end of the day, no amount of time would make me whole, and I knew that going into it. So it was confusing.
Another confusing part was listening to what others had to say to the judge as to their input on the sentencing. I didn't have to stay and listen to that, but I did. I wish I had not. I had the option of the DA coming to get me from the hallway for when it was my time to talk. The stuff others had to say was more to deal with than what the perp alone had to say and did nothing but piss me off. But maybe it wasn't all bad.
Every case and every judge and every perp can differ quite greatly.
But I am glad I did speak up in both cases, no matter the time the perp got. It felt like I was reclaiming my voice and my choice that had been taken from me.
