Why did my attorney ask the judge to sentence me to a year & a day instead of just a year?

Depending on the jurisdiction, it is often the case that if you get a year and a day, it triggers an earlier release time than if you get a sentence of one year. In some states and in federal court, depending, a year could mean you serve day for day, but a year for a day could mean you serve nine months or eight months, or that you’re eligible for, for example, a halfway house, whereas a sentence of a year, you’re not. So that’s one reason you need your lawyer to be knowledgeable in the local laws and the practices in the Department of Corrections or in the Bureau of Prisons regarding appropriate sentences, and a sentence that might seem longer to you might actually be a shorter sentence that you actually serve.

By Jeffrey S. Weiner, P.A.