N.E. Brigand Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 10 minutes ago, Lance said: i remember reading that 90%+ of criminal cases at both the state and federal level get plead out. that either means a massive number of guilty people take plea bargains compared to innocent people, or there are a massive number of wrongful arrests and criminal charges, lol Another interesting stat: about 40% of murders in the U.S. go unsolved. I have no idea what the percentage is for other crimes, but given that police tend to prioritize murders, I'd guess it was higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, MikeD said: Can a person admit guilt, by taking a plea bargain, and then appeal the verdict? I believe this happens sometimes, although the barrier is pretty high. Jim notes one argument that is used in such cases is ineffective counsel: you fire your original lawyer and your new lawyer argues that your first lawyer really botched things. And as ILC notes, there's a risk in doing that. There's one federal case that's been in and out of the news over the past couple years where someone pleaded guilty to a crime, admitted in official court filings that he did it, wasn't charged with a number of more serious crimes that he apparently did, cooperated with prosecutors in providing evidence about other people's crimes, got a recommendation from prosecutors for a sentence of probation, stated under oath at his sentencing hearing that he committed the crime to which he had pleaded guilty, was met with some skepticism from the judge about whether he had done everything he could to help prosecutors, agreed to postpone the sentencing further so he could cooperate some more ... and then fired his lawyers and hired new ones, and then began to get uncooperative with prosecutors (so that one of their other cases got botched because they couldn't use his testimony), and then had his new lawyers throw up a one sketchy argument after another about how the prosecution had been unfair to him, all of which the judge shot down, and finally the defendant said that he's not actually guilty and that he had only said he was guilty because he was given bad advice by his original lawyers, so that there's going to have to be a hearing (or at least some depositions--confirmed just this week) in which his original lawyers will have to testify about whether or not they did their jobs. But even if the judge then lets him withdraw his plea, there's still the matter of his having testified under oath that he did the crime, which he now says isn't true (although he hasn't said that under oath yet), which means that the prosecutors could then go after him for perjury. So things like this do happen. For the sake of the victims, I hope that they don't happen in this case. Edited March 7, 2020 by N.E. Brigand 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skevinp Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 22 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said: Another interesting stat: about 40% of murders in the U.S. go unsolved. I have no idea what the percentage is for other crimes, but given that police tend to prioritize murders, I'd guess it was higher. How do we know they are murders if they haven’t been solved? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Just now, skevinp said: How do we know they are murders if they haven’t been solved? Fair point. 40% of deaths that look like murders go unsolved, but it is possible that they were all just tragic accidents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 17 minutes ago, skevinp said: How do we know they are murders if they haven’t been solved? From watching Dexter, a whole #### load. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 4 hours ago, HockeyDad said: According to what I know about lawyering from watching Better Call Saul, I agree with you. He’s not a criminal lawyer. He’s a CRIMINAL lawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 So what’s the deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 A few years ago it was pointed out on some late-night show that in Illinois 50% of the murders were unsolved, and that 60% of former governors were in jail - you were more likely to go to jail being elected governor than by murdering someone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 1 minute ago, Jeff Ream said: So what’s the deal? The plea deal? - we will not know until it is accepted & the judge signs off on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Just now, IllianaLancerContra said: The plea deal? - we will not know until it is accepted & the judge signs off on it. No rumors? This is drum corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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