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Pleas & Sentencing – Sentence Modification

By: Derek Hawkins//October 28, 2015//

Pleas & Sentencing – Sentence Modification

By: Derek Hawkins//October 28, 2015//

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Criminal

WI Court of Appeals – District II

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Gundrum, J

Pleas & Sentencing – Sentence Modification 

2014AP2392-CR State of Wisconsin v. Courtney E. Sobonya

Courtney Sobonya requested expungement of her criminal record at her sentencing for possession of heroin. The trial court denied her request on the ground that granting expungement would undermine the deterrent effect of the court’s sentence. Sobonya thereafter retained an expert who opined that granting expungement would not undermine the deterrent effect of the court’s sentence and offered his report as a “new factor” relevant to the court’s decision on expungement. The trial court accepted the expert’s postsentencing report as a “new factor” but nonetheless denied sentence modification. We agree with the court’s ultimate decision. We write to clarify that a contrary opinion, particularly one that centers on a matter relating to the objectives of sentencing (protection, punishment, rehabilitation, and deterrence), 1 is not a “new factor” for purposes of sentence modification.

Decision

Affirmed. Recommended for Publication

Full Text


Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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