Sentencing analysis of Courtney Elizabeth Hernandez's kidnapping case

Criminal Justice -- Sentencing and Analysis

Courtney Elizabeth Hernandez was indicted for kidnapping. Her case was handled in the Circuit Court for the Western District of Texas. Based on her attorney's advice, she accepted a plea bargain, pleading guilty to kidnapping. The normal sentence for kidnapping in Texas is 10 years in prison; however, Hernandez was sentenced to 15 years in prison, along with other punishments.

The Sentence

According to a plea bargain in which Defendant Courtney Elizabeth Hernandez pleaded guilty to kidnapping, she received a sentence of 15 years in Federal prison, and then three years of supervised release, plus she is order to pay $3,000 in restitution for the kidnapping of the 2-1/2-year-old girl (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010).

The PSI Report

The PSI report would include personal information about the defendant, such as her family history, social history, social support, environmental support, education, current employment and employment history, substance abuse history, financial history and current financial situation, military history, information about a codefendant (which was not present here), and other data that the probation department believes would help the judge give the appropriate sentence (Steverson, 2012, p. 2). The PSI report would also give information about the crime, including a narrative of the facts and any mitigating or aggravating circumstances of the crime (Steverson, 2012, p. 2). In addition, the PSI report would give current information about the victim(s) and information about the restitution, including: the type, amount and recipient (Steverson, 2012, p. 2). Finally, the probation officer sometimes includes a recommendation about sentencing in the PSI report (Steverson, 2012, p. 2).

Procedure after Sentencing and Possible Appeal

After sentencing, Hernandez would be taken into custody (if not already in custody) and handed over to the custody of the Federal Corrections Department to begin her sentence. Hernandez entered her plea in the Western District of Texas (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010), so her appeal would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which is the appellate court with jurisdiction over the Western District of Texas (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2012, p. 9).

In order for Hernandez's appeal to be granted, Hernandez would have to show that something was materially wrong procedurally or substantively in the lower court and that her plea, her sentence or something else about her case should be overturned or sent back to the lower court for further action. That covers a lot of ground and many different arguments might be successfully made to the appellate court. For two examples: Hernandez might argue that she had ineffective assistance of counsel because her attorney had her accept a plea with