Understanding the Default Punishment for Misdemeanors
What is the Default Punishment for a Misdemeanor in Oklahoma?
What is the default punishment for a misdemeanor in the state of Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa Attorney James Wirth, that’s the question that we have. So when you’re looking at criminal offenses in the state of Oklahoma, a lot of times you’ll have what the crime is and there’ll be a section after that that indicates what the range of punishment is. But sometimes that range of punishment for that specific statute is not listed.
So what is the range of punishment if it is not specifically defined in statute? Well, there’s another statute that covers that. It’s Title 21, Section 10. And what it says is, except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by this chapter or by some existing provision of law, every offense declared to be a misdemeanor is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail, not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding $500 or both such fine and imprisonment. So it says up to a year in jail and up to $500 as a fine or both of those things, if not one of the other.
Contradicting Statute
However, there’s another statute that tends to contradict that a little bit and it’s Title 21, Section 64. And it provides that upon a conviction of any misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in any jail in relation to which no fine is prescribed by the law, the court or jury may impose a fine on the offender not exceeding $1,000 in addition to the imprisonment prescribed. So that’s what we have, up to a year in jail and up to either $500 or $1,000 as a fine.
Seeking Legal Advice
If you are dealing with prosecution for a misdemeanor offense, though, you just don’t wanna take general information from a video, you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney privately and confidentially that legal advice specific to your circumstances. To get that scheduled with an Oklahoma misdemeanor defense lawyer in my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
