The New Felony Sentencing Grid

For the first time since 1995 we have a new felony punishment chart for Structured Sentencing. Two pieces of legislation from the past session, S.L. 2009-555 and S.L. 2009-556, made changes that will become effective December 1, 2009 and apply to offenses committed on or after that date. The first law restructures the point ranges for prior record level for felony sentencing. Perhaps most significantly, a person with one prior record point will, under the new law, still be considered Prior Record Level I for sentencing. The remaining levels are recalibrated so that each covers four points - under current law, Prior Record Level IV covers six points while the other levels cover four apiece. Defendants on the low end of the prior record scale will generally benefit from the change, whereas those with 14 or more points might find themselves in a higher level on the new grid. The second law changes the minimum sentence durations for Class B1-G felonies so that they grow by a standard 15 percent increment as you move from left to right on the grid within a particular offense class. So, for example, if the minimum presumptive sentence for a Class E, Level I offender is 20 months, then the minimum presumptive sentence for a Class E, Level II is 15 percent greater than that (23 months); the minimum presumptive sentence for a Class E, Level III is 15 percent greater still (26 months); and so forth as you move across the grid. The range [...]