A Beginner's Guide to Virginia Sentencing Guidelines. Even with no prior record, the guidelines will start at a minimum of 7 months. Getting the charged reduced to simple possession can reduce to the guidelines to a recommendation of no jail time with probation. Those are only two very Subsequent Felony Convictions. A person who is convicted of a felony in West Virginia and has a prior felony conviction will be punished more severely than a person without a criminal record who is convicted of the same crime. Second (and subsequent) felony convictions carry an additional prison term of at least five years. The Commission promulgates guidelines that judges consult when sentencing federal offenders. When the guidelines are amended, a subsequent Guidelines Manual is published.; In this section, you will find the Commission's comprehensive archive of yearly amendments and Guidelines Manuals dating back to 1987. sentencing guidelines are also available. Practice Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, available from Aspen Publishers, is a two-volume treatise con - taining the full text of the guidelines and extensive analysis of the guidelines and their application in hundreds of cases. More concise analyses, also accompanied by the text of the a firearm, and the other for the offense of unlawful wounding under West Virginia law. Covington did not object to the career offender classification; however, prior to sentencing, the district court sua sponte ordered the parties to brief the issue whether unlawful wounding qualifies as a crime of violence under the Guidelines. In Virginia, there are six classes of felony charges. A conviction of a Class 1 felony charge is the most serious; a conviction of a Class 6 felony charge is the least serious. Felony charges carry a potential for a sentence of greater than one year in jail. This varies from a misdemeanor charge because a misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty for up to one year in jail. Minn. Sentenc