Talk:Ronnie Shelton

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Sentence length

This article currently states: "Richard McMonagle sentenced him to between 1,554 and 3,195 years in prison" Why is there no greater accuracy than this? Nick Moyes (talk) 00:03, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Nick Moyes: that's what source 2 says. Source 3 and 7 only mention the upper limit though. EvergreenFir (talk) 07:36, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It is more accurate to give a range. Sentencing in U.S. is typically given in a range. You might be familiar with expression "25 to life". The lower limit indicates the earliest time the prisoner can apply for parole. The upper limit indicates the maximum time period the prisoner can remain incarcerated. In this case, he was convicted for numerous counts and, I assume, the judge sentenced him to serve the sentence consecutively, essentially giving him a life sentence. 1,554 years indicates the sum of all the lower limits of the individual counts. 3,195 years is the sum of all the maximum sentences from the individual counts. --- Coffeeandcrumbs 12:04, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks. I know nothing of how the US penal system works, but I assumed that some sort of parole for good behaviour is usually included. I wonder if something along the following lines would be appropriate and read with less apparent vagueness, yet still be fully supported by the sources? "Richard McMonagle sentenced him to 3,195 years in prison, serving a minimum of 1,554 years." But if you both think the original wording was fine, then I'm happy to accept that. Nick Moyes (talk) 19:53, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]