Conflicting information
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Well we are all in a spin this end......
When my son initially attended Magistrates (not guilty plea) the 'stand in' solicitor told him if he pled guilty the 'likely' charge at minimum would be 5 years on registers and a community order and maximum would be 10 years on registers and suspended sentence. Fast forward my son has now attended Crown Court and changed his plea to guilty as his barrister told him he would be waiting for trial between 18-24 months at least, this swayed his decision heavily and barrister then told him that in his opinion with his knowledge a guilty plea it is looking likely to be a 6-12 month custodial sentence.
We do appreciate that it comes down to lots of factors and more so the judge on the day but seriously these are massively different outcomes.
We received a letter from his actual solicitor this morning stating that all sentencing options are open to him and that he needs to 'prepare' himself! we are absolutely bricking it now. His solicitor has been less than useless, to the point I think he could of self represented him much better... this is a joke but I feel some of you may understand what I mean.
I don't think there's any real point to my moan just wanted to vent where everyone is one the same journey....past, present and future x x
When my son initially attended Magistrates (not guilty plea) the 'stand in' solicitor told him if he pled guilty the 'likely' charge at minimum would be 5 years on registers and a community order and maximum would be 10 years on registers and suspended sentence. Fast forward my son has now attended Crown Court and changed his plea to guilty as his barrister told him he would be waiting for trial between 18-24 months at least, this swayed his decision heavily and barrister then told him that in his opinion with his knowledge a guilty plea it is looking likely to be a 6-12 month custodial sentence.
We do appreciate that it comes down to lots of factors and more so the judge on the day but seriously these are massively different outcomes.
We received a letter from his actual solicitor this morning stating that all sentencing options are open to him and that he needs to 'prepare' himself! we are absolutely bricking it now. His solicitor has been less than useless, to the point I think he could of self represented him much better... this is a joke but I feel some of you may understand what I mean.
I don't think there's any real point to my moan just wanted to vent where everyone is one the same journey....past, present and future x x
Just wanted to commiserate with you as many of us know the conflicting opinions and advice we are given by those we rely on.
It's hard not to feel a surge of hope with the positive stuff and a spiral down into a pit of despair when it's not positive, plus the immense frustration of not getting the proper care and advice from those whose job it is to act for you (and maybe even have been paid a huge amount of money to represent your best interests.)
I wish solicitors would get how much it impacts people when they are careless in whatever they say - of course we want concrete answers but being black and white is unhelpful when things are so open to whatever happens on the day - surely the kinder thing would be for them to defer their opinion and just work on instilling confidence in their ability to do the absolute best for your person.
We are in the same kind of nightmare place at the moment but a stage back as waiting for CPS to come back with their charging decision at which point we will see what our son's solicitor is like - but I'm trying not to expect too much (apart from a big hole in our savings!)
Sending you an empathetic hug!
It's hard not to feel a surge of hope with the positive stuff and a spiral down into a pit of despair when it's not positive, plus the immense frustration of not getting the proper care and advice from those whose job it is to act for you (and maybe even have been paid a huge amount of money to represent your best interests.)
I wish solicitors would get how much it impacts people when they are careless in whatever they say - of course we want concrete answers but being black and white is unhelpful when things are so open to whatever happens on the day - surely the kinder thing would be for them to defer their opinion and just work on instilling confidence in their ability to do the absolute best for your person.
We are in the same kind of nightmare place at the moment but a stage back as waiting for CPS to come back with their charging decision at which point we will see what our son's solicitor is like - but I'm trying not to expect too much (apart from a big hole in our savings!)
Sending you an empathetic hug!
Always prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Its all we can do. Like you say, on the day, anything goes. X
Thank you ladies, its such a dam well awful situation, we are absolutely preparing for the worse, but gosh its hard to get that into your frame of mind.