Are You Truly Innocent? *Do Not Plea Bargain!*
*For an interesting learned opinion on this, see http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060327.alschuler-pg.html. A couple of quotes:
“Defense attorneys and some academics, though, argue that the system is so skewed that most clients are forced to accept pleas, knowing that if they take their chances at trial and lose, they will face sentences that are at least 25 percent higher.”
“”It’s a perfectly laughable system,” [Albert Alschuler, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School] said. “The prosecutors love it. The message is any sane defendant, guilty or innocent, ought to do the prosecutor’s bidding.”
*So…in this case…being severely mentally ill…[i.e. not a “sane defendant”]…is what I needed to ignore the consequences and stand on principle. I can’t even come close to guessing how many times I said, “But I didn’t trespass” to the multitudes of sane persons advising me to rollover and plea for my own benefit. This article is excellent but it doesn’t really reveal just how much pressure innocents face to plead guilty. The fear of the unknown…It’s simply crushing…Professor Alschuler puts it well…the pressure is so great that it takes insanity to stand on principle…in addition, the article fail to state clearly that when you say no to plea offers…it isn’t just the gap in the sentence for the original crime(s) that pushes one toward plea offers…there is also the rapid response to hearing “no” by prosecutors…they will quickly and fiercely (while maintaining their professional, unemotional demeanor) pile on an extra charge or two or more to deal with…take that you fool!!! *This is not legal advice. I’m not an attorney. This is just personal opinion. Nothing more. Get legal advice way before buying this opinion. Unless you are guilty…just keep saying “NO!” to every d#&! offer they dream up.
Three Reasons: 1) If you’re not guilty, but admit via plea bargain that you are guilty in any way at all to any thing at all - even a Continuance Without a Plea will work against you - you will be seen as absolutely nothing other than guilty by virtually anyone checking on you for the rest of your life… “…oh, you plea bargained…you must have been guilty of something…” …this can mean job impact, the impact of some future event - maybe even an arrest for a second crime you didn’t commit…”oh, you already have a record…hmmm…” …what does that make people think about this new one…etc.
2) Also…the aggressive prosecution mentality that prosecutors often have to “get tough on crime” applies to you if you even look crosswise sometimes…but not if you are the victim of law enforcement abuse…then they set their fangs aside in a little cup of water and become lapdogs for the officers who’ve committed crimes against you…for the head of the attorney’s department, for the mayor, for the good of the team , (”gee…we don’t want law enforcement to look bad…that’s bad for our community image…plus…if we prosecute law enforcement they’ll get back at us”), etc…etc…equal justice under the law?…a long dead fairy tale…
3) For everyone who is wrongfully accused who falls for accepting plea bargains just to get it over with and to avoid the risk that a jury will find them guilty, when a jury probably won’t if you’re not, the system is designed to rubberstamp prosecute everything the police bring in knowing that the great fear in even the most innocent will likely lead to capitulation to a plea offer…and ‘wins’ for the prosecution…
…just know that the prosecutor, the police, the public defender, the free legal clinic attorney, and your own fully paid for $1,000 attorney who believes you are innocent may all try to scare you into believing this…
…one way to put an end to this charade is to refuse to go along to get along…forcing the system to deal with the fact of your innocence by forcing them to expend all the resources needed to go to trial will clog the system…soon, the backpressure of overloaded prosecutors, judges, courts, police having to testify, etc., will force police to stop creating criminal charges out of nothing that prosecutors will know they can’t win…and maybe only then, will they focus on real criminals creating real crimes that really matter instead of making easy targets out of innocents… As it is now, ‘everyone’ pleas…it’s “how the game is played”…multiple attorneys told me this…etc.
…every day, innocent people lose because of the pressure to plea. And trust me, this pressure is huge…it comes from everywhere…inside your own self…your family…friends…therapists…court personnel…criminal investigators…soon to be lawyer interns…Senator Craig was not a wimp…he simply folded under the pressure not realizing the heavy consequences…I can’t tell you how many times I was criticized or rebuked for sticking to my guns and not capitulating to a plea offer…insisting on a trial…and a jury trial on top of it…six citizens versus one judge…I don’t know whether I can trust judges or not…hopefully they aren’t in bed with the rest of the lot…I hold out hope that they are the last stand…I hope in fear that my hope is unfounded…
…when you say “NO!” they may literally ‘up the ante’…add charges…”you refuse to ‘play along’…take this”…now you have 2 or 3 charges instead of just the one wrong one…nice…I received a threat of an add’l charge ‘Obstructing…’ from the prosecutor, literally within seconds, when I didn’t roll on the last of 2 or 3 different variations on the plea theme - a CWOP (Continuance WithOut Plea)…”the best offer you can get without an outright dismissal”…my attorney explained afterward that she goes into every legal defense assuming what her clients don’t know…that more charges are likely to be added…unless they plea out…it’s the way the game is played…no kidding…Jeffrey Toobin’s pronouncements about Senator Craig and why would he plead to anything if he wasn’t guilty is painfully incorrect…it’s so far off target I can’t help but wonder if it is even disingenuous, but impolite to discuss in public…(and I like Jeffrey Toobin!)…
CWOP sounds pretty decent…no plea…no admittance of guilt…then in a year it all goes away…but it doesn’t…and the underlying assumption is guess what…in the eyes of the court, law enforcement, etc., you’re guilty…the plea is on your “criminal record”…FYI…CWOPs are fairly commonly used in domestic disputes…when the injured party won’t testify it is a way to get the ‘guilty’ party on the record…it is expected to “send a message” regarding future incidents…
Bottom line - if you are innocent…even a CWOP is not a deal…it’ll come back to haunt you…
