On July 1, 2021, there will be a monumental change to the sentencing rules. One of the deterrents to taking a jury for your trial has been the risk of the jury sentencing a defendant.
With changes coming soon, after conviction, whether with or without jury, the court may impose the sentence or suspend the sentence in whole or part. The Court may even choose to place the defendant on probation with conditions such as a GPS monitor or require community service.
Perhaps as important to any of the sentence imposition changes, the Court can set the period of probation for up to the statutory maximum period for which a defendant might originally have been sentenced and supervised probation cannot exceed 5 years from release from active incarceration.
Courts will retain the authority to modify a sentence for up to 60 days after transfer to the Department of Corrections. If a person is sentenced to jail after conviction of a misdemeanor or a felony, a Court may modify the sentence at any time before the sentence has been completely served.