The Difference Between Trial Attorneys and Plea Bargain Attorneys
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The difference between trial attorneys and plea bargain attorneys Free Publication by National Association For Legal Gun Defense The difference between trial attorneys and plea bargain attorneys Why do lawyers of other self-defense coverage company’s try to persuade their clients to accept plea bargains even if they are innocent? Quick answer: Because for your defense attorney and the insuring company a plea is all about saving the company money. SDF attorneys fight for our members while others plea to save money. Self Defense Fund attorneys are trial lawyers in all fifty states and will aggressively defend you to the full extent of the law. Compare the SDF plan to other Company’s Download What are plea bargains? Plea bargains are an agreement in a criminal case between the prosecutor and the defendant that usually involves the defendant pleading guilty in order to receive a lesser offense or sentence. Plea bargains are often referred to as really just establishing a "mutual acknowledgment" of the case's strengths and weaknesses, and don't necessarily reflect a traditional sense of "justice". In theory, courts are happy to have the respective parties work out a solution by themselves, but it begs the question of who is best served by allowing plea bargains. Assuming you are innocent, the system has made all of us afraid to pursue our innocence. Prosecuting attorneys, who are generally District Attorneys, have a million ways to wear you down - threats, countless hearings, court dates, lack of notification or communication, etc. Why, Because DA’s are elected and they have to defend their convection record every four years during their election campaign. They do not campaign on cases they have lost. Plus they have endless county money and staff attorneys who get paid no matter what. Defense attorneys, who should have your best interest at heart, will talk to you about your loved ones missing you, telling you the plea bargain they are presenting is the best you can get, and telling you they have never seen such a good deal before. Why, because the insuring company loses money if they take you to trial. It is their best interest to talk you into a plea. Unfortunately, for defense attorneys who have been appointed to represent a poor person, it means that the attorney knows he will be paid very little, whether he fights hard in trial or his client pleads guilty without a trial. In order to provide for his or her family, he may want to keep his representation of the poor defendant to a minimum to get back to paying clients in his practice. That is unethical, but you can understand the economic pressure to do it. It happens all the time. This is all designed to make you surrender your constitutional rights to presumed innocence and avoid a trial in the name of judicial efficiency. But know this - trials are their own type of nightmare. We would be remiss if we didn't tell you that. Select your nightmare carefully! Even if innocent there are a variety of reasons why a criminal defendant may consider a plea bargain in a criminal case. Defendants have an opportunity to negotiate a plea bargain, in part because criminal courts are more crowded, which means prosecutors and judges feel increased pressure to move cases quickly through the system. Trials can take days, weeks, or sometimes months, while guilty pleas can often be arranged in minutes. Stacking charges forces the innocent to plead guilty The SDF preaches to our members to say only the following when questioned by the police. “I have been advised by my attorney to keep silent.” We cannot emphasize this enough. If the police are questioning you the odds start out as 2 to 1 against you. First the police are trained to collect all evidence and statements to gain a conviction. Second prosecutors stack charges to gain a conviction. The one is you. What you say can and will be used “AGAINST” you. Not “FOR” you.” Most people talk themselves into an arrest. The SDF has written newsletter articles several times about how prosecutors will “stack charges” against a defendant, thus building a very long potential prison sentence if convicted, and then approach the defendant with a “plea deal” that would result in a guaranteed, substantially reduced charge and sentence if the defendant agrees to plead guilty to the reduced offense. If the defendant takes the deal, the prosecutor doesn’t have to take the case to trial, and possibly not even to a grand jury, both of which are a lot of work and require a lot of time on the part of the prosecutor. This has become absolutely standard practice. The prosecutor will “stack” charges to build such a scary potential sentence, that even actually innocent people will be intimidated into pleading guilty, rather than face what’s called the “trial penalty” – that very scary long sentence if they should somehow be convicted at trial. Not surprisingly, the nature of the deal offered by the prosecutor will be driven by how strong a case he/she thinks they would have in court – the weaker the case, the better the deal. Let me also add that the prosecutor has no problem assembling a very long list of charges against you. The penal code has become so vast, and there are so many laws, that there’s a law against practically everything. I suggest that most people are not even aware they’re breaking a law every day; because they don’t know the law exists. I think they could charge you with something for walking down the sidewalk whistling a tune while wearing a blue shirt. The SDF has already defended a member for walking on the wrong side of the street. To really understand what happens here, I thought it would be enlightening to provide an example case. Here is the scenario: You are out mowing your lawn one day, and find a nest of six baby rabbits at the base of the foundation of your house. Now, the rabbits have been eating and destroying your landscape plants for years, so your first reaction is, “Get the hose and drown them.” But then you think, “No, I’ll do the humane thing; put them in a box, and release them out in the ‘country’.” So you scoop the rabbits into a cardboard box, put it in your car, and drive out to the country. Now, here’s what happens. You stop by the side of a country road, release the rabbits out into the tall grass, get back in your car, and drive away. A sheriff’s deputy on patrol noticed you dumping something by the side of the road, and he pulls you over. The officer comes up to your car, and asks, “Sir, may I ask what you dumped by the side of the road back there?” You answer, “It was just some rabbits from my yard.” The officer says, “I see - How many?” You say, “Six.” And at this point, the officer says, “Sir, get out of the car. You’re under arrest for interfering with wildlife.” Now that you’ve been arrested and initially charged, the prosecutor is going to come to you (and your attorney) with a plea deal. This can be even before an indictment, because if he/she can get you to plead guilty now, then he/she doesn’t have to spend time and effort taking the case to a grand jury, much less to trial. In this case (your case) the prosecutor comes to you (your attorney) and says, “This is what I’m charging you with.” The prosecutor then lists the charges and the prison sentences that accompany each charged (Stacking): Interfering with wild life. One count. Six months each count. Removing wildlife from its natural habitat. Six counts. One year each count. Placing wildlife in a non-native habitat. Six counts. One year each count. Use of a motor vehicle for the purpose of interfering with wildlife. One count. One year each count. Illegal dumping. One count. Three months each count. Illegally parking on a county road. One count. Three months each count. [Note: If someone else had helped you do this, there could also be conspiracy charges added.] Then the prosecutor says: “If you will plead guilty to one count of interfering with wildlife, we’ll see that you get 30 days in jail, with one year probation upon release, and a $500 fine.” When you do the math, you quickly realize you’re facing a possible 14 years in prison versus 30 days and probation. You’re thinking, “This can’t be happening. I don’t think I did anything wrong.” But what would you do? Go to trial and face 14 years in prison? This is the dilemma that many defendants face on a regular basis, and is the primary reason why 95% of criminal cases never go to trial. [And for federal cases, it’s 98%.] Granted, this example was completely contrived, and it’s not possible to concoct an example that’s exactly analogous to every individual collection of circumstances, but that’s essentially how it works. Why do lawyers like to work things out and talk their client into a plea bargains? a) Because in an attorneys’ mind a lawsuit in court is a win-lose when a plea bar-gain settlement is a win-win. b) Because if your attorney is not prepared or competent in self defense law then he has no idea who will be the winner.