For Missouri Criminal Defense Attorneys
The time between charge and sentencing is the most valuable window in your client's case.
Most attorneys let it go to waste.
Souder Tate helps criminal defense attorneys transform the time between charge and sentencing into documented evidence of change through structured sentencing mitigation action plans.
The Science of Risk. The Power of Story.
A Character Letter is not a Plan
The Sentencing Map℠ is a systematic, evidence-based process that transforms the waiting period between charge and sentencing into documented proof of your client’s readiness to change. It also gives you a credible, evidence-based report to present at sentencing.
Between the charge and the sentencing hearing, most clients do nothing intentional to address their lives. They may attend a few counseling sessions. They may get a letter from friends. But there is no documented record of identified needs, no structured action plan, and no evidence of meaningful change. Only the hope that goodwill and a sympathetic story will be enough.
A character letter is not a plan. It is an incomplete picture. The Court needs more.
When to Refer a Client
New Criminal Charge
Turn waiting into a strategic asset.
The ideal referral happens the day you are hired. This gives your client six months to a year to follow a documented action plan, address identified needs and barriers, and build a documented record of change before sentencing.
Probation Violation
Find the barrier; build the plan.
When a client cannot follow the basic rules of probation, the most likely explanation isn’t defiance. It’s an unidentified barrier: trauma, active substance dependence, or unstable housing. The Sentencing Map℠ finds it and builds a plan around it.
Identify. Address. Document.
01
Identify
I meet with your client and administer validated screening tools that are tailored to the case type. These tools identify trauma, substance use, mental health concerns, criminogenic needs, and responsivity barriers that are specific to your client. The screening results provide a narrative skeleton of your client’s life.
02
Address
After the interview, your client begins working through my mitigation workbook, a structured guide to addressing identified needs and barriers, building supporting documentation, and creating a record of intentional change. I also send you a Brief Screening Report, with findings and recommendations.
03
Document
Your client completes the workbook, gathers supporting documents, and returns everything to you. With a documented record of change, you are ready for plea negotiations or a contested sentencing. However, the documents can be sent to me to incorporate into a Felony Sentencing Report, if needed.
Three services. One systematic approach.
Sentencing Map℠
Comprehensive Screening · Workbook · Brief Screening Report
The foundation of the process. For new charges and probation violations where the goal is to build a documented record of change before sentencing. The earlier the referral, the more the process can accomplish. The Sentencing Map℠ can stand alone or serve as the first phase of a Felony Sentencing Report.
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Felony Report
Based on BSR · Full report · Includes Mitigation documents
For felony cases that proceed to a contested sentencing. Built on the Brief Screening Report, the completed workbook, and the documented record of change. After a reinterview and review of the probation sentencing assessment, I write a comprehensive report ready for sentencing.
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DWI Report
Targeted screening · Social history component · Workbook
For misdemeanor and municipal DWI cases. Uses a comprehensive questionnaire and a targeted screening battery. A standalone service on a separate track from the felony reporting process. Your client gathers supporting documents and sends them to me to complete the report.
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Evidence-based methodology.
Forty years of practice.
The Science
The ACEs, GAIN-SS, and SASSI-4 are validated, evidence-based screening tools. Along with my proprietary Early Sentencing Triage, they provide a skeleton outline of your client’s story, from childhood to the present. They also form the basis for recommended interventions.
The Methodology
Most mitigation services identify needs and recommend treatment. The Sentencing Map℠ goes further, asking why each risk factor exists, and letting the answer tell the story underneath the finding in a way that changes how a judge sees your client.
The Practitioner
Souder Tate is a criminal defense lawyer and sentencing advocate in Springfield, MO. He has forty years experience, including prosecution, criminal defense, and treatment court practice. Sentencing mitigation reports for Missouri courts and attorneys since 2009.
Ready to Refer a Client?
At sentencing, your client can walk into court with more than a story. They can walk in with documented evidence of change, a systematic explanation that makes sense to the Court, and a plan the judge can trust when most defendants walk in with nothing but a request for leniency.
Without it, the window closes. Your client arrives with nothing to show except a hope the court has already heard before.
Start building your client’s record of change now.
This is where you change the case.