The Anatomy of a Plea Deal: A Gift or Affordable Relief?
--> I have always understood the process of plea-bargaining to be something that only a guilty person would ever consider. It’s an obvious conclusion drawn simply by the term “bargain or deal”. Let’s face it; if you are guilty and you know it, and there is evidence against you, any deal is better than what you may face at a jury trial. Not only is going to trial bogging down the courts schedule, inconveniencing potential witnesses, and is an huge cost to the tax payers, but there is always an element of risk to the prosecutor that they just may not win their case. The strategy of stacking on the charges in an indictment gives them a better chance that something will stick and with a win, put the defendant away for a much longer period of time. But the “charge stacking” also provides the “bargaining materials” for the basis of the plea bargain. Peeling away at those stacked charges makes the plea attractive, reduces time served and becomes very convincing that the guilty sho...