Where a circumstance of aggravation is abandoned by the prosecution for one offence, the sentencing judge cannot take that same factual matter into account when sentencing for a related offence committed in the course of the same events, as this would in substance sentence the offender for the abandoned circumstance of aggravation. The timeliness of a guilty plea to a lesser charge should be assessed by reference to when the prosecution indicated willingness to accept that plea, not by reference to the trial date for the original charge.
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