Occurring before or in preparation for a criminal sentence.
"Pulitzer's request"--Marshall would eventually write--"is both novel and complex, pitting the public's right to know […] against the traditional confidentiality of presentence investigation materials."1988 October 14, Michael Miner, “Local Paper Does Good; Quayle Watching”, in Chicago Reader:
[…] he was conscious to himself that he had prejudged, preconvicted, and even presentenced the Man whom he tried, months before he heard his case, as is demonstrated by his threat to Mrs. MILBANK "that he would send him into penal servitude!" […]1874, The Englishman, volume 1, page 393:
presentence
noun
Etymology From pre- + sentence.
1
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A sentence-like utterance that precedes the development of properly grammatical sentences.