Where co-offenders are charged with different offences carrying different maximum penalties, or where a co-offender is sentenced on an agreed statement of facts that differs from the trial judge's findings, any resulting sentencing disparity is attributable to prosecutorial decisions rather than judicial error, and the parity principle does not apply to correct it. The staleness of an offence can be a mitigating factor even absent culpable delay by authorities, but only where the lapse of time is substantial.
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