Pierre Palmade was sentenced on Wednesday November 20 to five years in prison, two of which were closed, with a deferred committal warrant but with provisional execution. Will he be incarcerated? If yes, where and how? Who to decide? Is it possible to modify your sentence using an electronic bracelet? Here is what the law says.
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Will Pierre Palmade be incarcerated?
Unless his state of health suddenly deteriorates, which could lead to a suspension of his sentence for medical reasons, there is no doubt that he will be imprisoned soon – the law does not provide for a deadline in this type of situation. The court, in fact, placed two “locks” on his conviction, to ensure effective incarceration. On the one hand, he matched his conviction [deux ans d’emprisonnement ferme plus trois ans de sursis probatoire] “provisional execution”, which makes the sentence immediately enforceable; the appeal is no longer suspensive and the conviction produces its effects immediately.
Moreover, the court issued a committal warrant, which most often results in immediate incarceration. However, he predicted that this mandate would have a “delayed effect”, which offers a short respite to Pierre Palmade. This is not a preferential measure, but to offer him the possibility of being incarcerated near his home, in Bordeaux, where his relatives live and where he has initiated a process of care.
Who will decide on the terms of his incarceration?
The public prosecutor of Bordeaux, who will soon summon – no doubt quickly – Pierre Palmade to tell him the establishment where he will have to serve his sentence and the date of his imprisonment.
Given the notoriety of the person concerned and the media resonance of his case, it is likely that he will be placed in a separate neighborhood, wrongly called a “VIP neighborhood” but reserved, in reality, for “vulnerable people”, likely to be the subject of threats or reprisals from other detainees, because of their celebrity or the media coverage of their case.
Could Pierre Palmade's sentence be adjusted?
Yes, but within a certain time frame. The sentence not exceeding two years, the court could have adjusted it “ from the beginning “, in other words immediately but he did not make this choice. The pronouncement of provisional execution and the issuance of a committal warrant, as we have seen, will not allow him to escape incarceration. In drafting its judgment, which we have not yet seen, the criminal court will have to justify its refusal to adjust the sentence in view of the facts, the personality of the convicted person and his family, material and social situation.
Once he is incarcerated – and if he does not appeal – Pierre Palmade's lawyers will be able to petition the sentence enforcement judge (JAP) for a sentence adjustment. He has a period of four months to respond but in practice, exceeding this deadline is quite common, given the overcrowding of prisons. The possible arrangements are: home detention under surveillance [bracelet] electronic; semi-release (free during the day, incarcerated at night and on weekends) or placement outside (with care in an open environment by an association, for example).
What procedure will he have to follow to obtain a possible accommodation?
Once the request has been filed, the prison integration and probation services (SPIP) will meet Pierre Palmade in prison, in order to take stock of his situation. At the end of their investigation, they will draw up a report (favorable or not) for the judge, the only one authorized to rule. The lawyers, for their part, will put together a file in such a way as to guarantee the domicile of the person concerned, the care he has undertaken, the way in which he intends to meet his obligations (the probationary suspension imposed in addition to the firm sentence to Pierre Palmade orders him to work, treat his drug addiction and compensate the victims). “The procedure follows a fairly tight formalism,” observes criminal lawyer Dominique Boh-Petit.
Pierre Palmade will be able to file as many requests as he wishes. On the other hand, finding himself in a state of legal recidivism, he will have to wait until he has served two thirds of his sentence (sixteen months) to qualify for conditional release, which is subject to another procedure.
Does Pierre Palmade have an interest in appealing?
This is a difficult question, as appeal is always a double-edged sword. The sentence pronounced by the “second judges” may be the same as that pronounced in first instance (we then speak of “confirmation”); it can be reduced but also increased and it must be remembered that Pierre Palmade would face fourteen years of imprisonment, since he was a repeat offender for having been sentenced, in 2019 in Paris, to a fine of 1,500 euros for possession and consumption of narcotics, as part of an appearance procedure on prior admission of guilt (“plead guilty”).
Given the file, the profile and the addictions of the person concerned, as well as the prejudice suffered by the victims, it is not certain that an appeal would be beneficial to him, especially since the judgment rendered Wednesday November 20 by the Melun court ( Seine-et-Marne) complies with the requisitions of the public prosecutor's office – except that the latter had neither requested provisional execution nor the issuance of a committal warrant.
Is provisional execution ordered by the court rare?
Marine Le Pen, against whom this provisional execution was requested by the prosecution, at the trial of the RN parliamentary assistants, suggested that it was a political decision aimed more at her person than the facts with which she is accused. It is enough to take a look at the ordinary immediate appearance hearings to refute this assertion. “Provisional execution is very often pronounced,” confirms M.e Both-Petit.
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Answer
Opponents of this measure point out, not without reason, that provisional execution infringes the principle of the double level of jurisdiction, which allows a litigant to have his case examined a second time “on the merits”, by another judge. This is not entirely false, provisional execution also aims, even if the legislator and judges deny it, to dissuade litigants from appealing.
Was Pierre Palmade in pre-trial detention?
Very little. Twenty days, in total, in the form of an electronic bracelet, then detention while he was still in the hospital, after the accident, specifies his lawyer, Me Celine Lasek. These twenty days will be deducted from the sentence he will have to serve. Likewise, he will be able to benefit from a sentence reduction credit, it being specified that the reductions are no longer automatic but conditional on the good behavior of the prisoner.
