People v. Dwan Brumfield
Jan 01, 2014OUTCOME:
Client and co-defendant charged with robbery for beating up victim and allegedly taking $200 from him. Entire incident was videoed and placed on Facebook. Client is currently on parole out of the sta ... te of Illinois for an Involuntary Homicide conviction. During felony hearing victim identified client as taking his key and phone but returning them and telling victim he did not want his car or phone. While case was pending grand jury client was offered an Attempted Robbery Second plea which is a class “D” violent felony as a second violent felony offender the minimum sentence would be 7 years state prison and that sentence would run consecutive to his undischarged Illinois prison sentence. With the client’s assertion it was an assault and not a robbery the plea was rejected and the client was subsequently indicted on Robbery in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree. After conferencing the matter with the District Attorney and Judge I advised my client to waive his right to a jury trial and allow the court to hear the case. Arguing that the matter was nothing more than an assault in the third degree and perhaps an attempted larceny the court convicted the client of misdemeanor assault and the felony attempted robbery in the second degree. However, after determining that the prior conviction in Illinois would only qualify as a non-violent felony in New York State the judge sentenced the client to the minimum sentenced required under the law for a second felony offender now convicted of his first violent felony which was 3 ½ years incarceration. Further, because the case carried on for almost a year and the state prison sentence of New York, the state of Illinois discharged the client from parole without instituting and further prison time. Therefore, the client’s total sentence was 3 ½ years half of what was offered in the pre-indictment plea.
