ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge has raised concerns over a plea deal given to a repeat offender.
Robbie Lewis was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison and 10 years probation for a series of serious crimes.
The plea deal, which was accepted by Fulton County Supreme Court Judge Scott McAfee, has sparked controversy due to the severity of the charges against Lewis, including robbery by intimidation, kidnapping, and aggravated assault.
The victim, Shahram Moshiri-Zavieh, expressed his dissatisfaction with the deal, stating that he suffered significant harm from the crime.
“They robbed me, they beat me up, they hit me with the gun, they stole my money, they took all the keys to my cars, and I’m suffering from that. I’m not accepting it, your honor,” said Moshiri-Zavieh during the hearing.
“If the district attorney is concerned, the bench here in Fulton County is soft on crime. This offer did not come from the bench,” McAfee said.
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“If the defendant had been convicted, he would have received a life without parole sentence,” Former DeKalb D.A. Robert James said.
The case against Lewis involved DNA, cell phone records, and video footage, which were presented as evidence. Despite this, the plea deal was reached, reducing the charges from armed robbery to lesser offenses.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis defended the plea deal in an email, stating that the defendant was sentenced to 25 years, with 10 years to be served in a Georgia penal facility.
She emphasized that the judge has the ultimate responsibility for sentencing, and Judge McAfee accepted the sentence without amendments.
The plea deal did not require Lewis to identify his accomplice in the crime, which James found confounding. He also noted that the D.A.’s office had previously helped Lewis get out of prison early from a long drug sentence, a decision he agreed with under the circumstances, but disagreed with giving Lewis another break now.
The charges against a co-defendant were dismissed due to evidentiary concerns, as indicated by a June 16th document.
Lewis’s attorney, Kenneth Mitchell, stated that he respects all parties involved and advocated the best he could for his client.
The plea deal ensures that Lewis will be out of the community for at least a decade, but it has raised questions about the handling of repeat offenders and the decisions made by the district attorney’s office.keys
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