My question involves criminal law for the state of: Florida

My friend was arrested for entering therough the window of a car and striking
a women. He did it after she had tried several times to run him down with her
car. The problem is, there were no witnesses available who saw her try to hit
him. There is one witness who claims to have seen car almost side swipe him
but he says it was a different car. However he does say the car was red,
the color of her car. It's obvious the car he saw was hers since she admitted
there were no other cars involved and that my friend was close to her the
whole time. There were many other witnesses who saw only the ending
where he goes in the vehicle after her.


He was charged with 1st Degree Burglary of a Conveyance with Battery a
very serious charge carrying a life sentence. The prosecutor appears to have
a personal connection to this case as she has not come down in her offer of
three years probation with 1 year in county. Having said that it looks as
though my friend will go to trial because he has a family and cannot afford a
year in jail. His wife can't work and their savings is now gone. He knows the
sentencing guidlines and there are few reasons to depart from them. One of
them is never having been in trouble before.

His lawyer said the prescriptions he was taking may have contributed and
wants to enter that as a defense as well. He's 43 mild mannered, married and
has a professional career.

My question is this. I assume some of you are seasoned attorneys and have
seen a lot of similar case come to fruition. What are the usual results? Lets
say the jury comes back with a guilty as charged, with no priors does the
judge strictly follow the guidelines or do they typically exhibit benevolence
in some way?

The other question I have is, does the court recognize that a defendant can
be remorseful and yet still take a case to trial? I occurs to me that just
because someone wants to stay out of jail and they decide to take a case
to trial, doesn't mean they are not remorseful and regretful. Does the court
see it that way and do they care?

Thanks