It seems the attorneys were getting together & deciding what punishment the defendants would face, before going before a judge to announce what lesser offense they'd accept.
Here's the money quote, from a report by KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage:
According to an annual report by the Alaska Court System, 90.1 percent of felony cases ended with a plea bargain of some sort.
This puts the decisions back in the hands of the judges. It doesn't change the sentencing laws nor the penalties already on the books.
So how do I know it's a probably the right way to go? This morning's news has interviews with attorneys bemoaning the fact that they'll have to "put in more hours of preparation."
So ... they'll have to earn their fees? All together now: awww.
6 comments:
Oh, the anguish of actually doing some real work. Should be a law against that.
Yep - you nailed it. :)
You mean it's now going to be just as much work to get their clients charged as guilty as it would be to defend their innocence? Oh, how terrible! There's no longer an incentive to let your client be hung out to dry if they're innocent!
*thbbbbt* on the idiot lawyers. Let them work for their money, like the rest of us.
That's what I was thinking, too. Thanks, Wing.
In most states the system is set up for the "plea deal". That is one reason we have so many laws that have no business being in existence. That is why you see the state piling so many charges on a defendant when they are first charged. Make them look at life in prison, then sucker them into taking a plea for 4 or 5 years.
If everyone arrested and charged had to actually be convicted in a court of law, the system would collapse. The judges would not have enough time to sit for every case.The plea deal is there to pad the resumes of government lawyers and to make more money for the government and government employees.
Welcome, Chris. I can't argue with a single point you made.
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