A sentencing judge must take into account not only the fact of a guilty plea and the discount it attracts, but also the timing of the plea. A plea entered before the first committal mention may warrant specific recognition, and failure to address the timing of an early plea may constitute appealable error. An observation that a victim was fortunate to survive a serious assault is not, without more, the treatment of good fortune as an aggravating factor — it is a permissible comment on the gravity of the offending.
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