30 November 2003

Did the threat of a death penalty force a man to plead guilty to murder?

And found in this article is the most humorous statement of the week:
Garfield County Attorney Wallace Lee, who led the prosecution against Barnes, said he often hears complaints that prosecutors "stack" charges against defendants as a way to coerce them into accepting plea agreements.

"I honestly don't think that's a valid claim," Lee said. "The prosecutors that I know and have dealt with would charge the maximum that they think they could prove, but I don't think they would charge it just as a means of getting a plea bargain."
Naw, there's not a courtroom in the country where people walk in with 6 felony charges and go away with 2 or 3. That just couldn't happen almost every day in almost every courtroom, in every county, in every State, could it?

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