Slimebeast said: Can someone fill in the details here because 20 years for gun shots without even hurting a person doesn't sound like a sentence given on this planet. |
Basically, some assholes passed a law so that if you use a gun during the commission of certain crimes, you face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 or 20 years, or life, depending on the crime. So if you use a gun to commit aggravated assault, that's an instant 20 years without any possibility for judicial discretion. And of course the jury is not permitted to take into account what the sentencing will be, only whether or not the prosecution proved its case.