Barriers: Criminal Law and States Plea Deal Essay

Submitted By chachaeze1
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Plea bargains are an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant. This plea is usually an agreement to a lesser charge or a lesser sentence. In this research paper I plan on focusing on the why prosecutors offer plea deal and the different types of pleas.
In many states there are so many cases that haven’t been to trial due to financial issues and back dated cases that the prosecutor offers the defendant a plea deal. If that plea is something that the defendant would agree with in terms of a lesser jail sentence then they usually agree. For an example If the charge is a felony and it would be dropped to a misdemeanor. In the pleas deal the defendant waive three rights protected by the Fifth and Sixth Amendment the right to a jury trial, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to confront hostile witnesses. The Supreme Court, however, has repeatedly rejected arguments that plea bargaining is unconstitutional. See, e.g., Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970), (Legal information Institute). For the defense attorney this could mean a good deal for the defendant or continue to have a great relationship with the prosecutor in order for future cases to have a good outcome. Over the years plea deals has been the center of controversy especially in cases of murder. The family of the victims would never no the real truth about what happened in the finally minutes of there love ones life. If the defendant plea or “coop out” then there is no trial and the only person that really knows the truth is the defendant. Outside of the United States plea deal are critized under circumstances that its close relationships with benefits, threats and potential danger. Charge Bargain is when a prosecutor allows the defendant to plea to a lesser charge. This happens quite often in courts. For example if a defendant was charge with burglary, the prosecutor will ask the defendant if he want to plea to a lesser charge like attempted burglary. There are many cases that can be dropped to lesser charges but what makes this plea bargaining so controversial is that some people actually need to spend time in jail. Sentence Bargain is when a defendant is told what his sentence will be if he pleads guilty. Sentence bargaining is one of the most common plea in criminal cases. Defendants will jump to a plea of a lesser sentence to avoid long jail time. A lot of sentence bargain occur to high profile cases. Both Charge and Sentence bargains are controversial but this is legal and prosecutors take full advantage of those rights. Prosecutors and Defenses attorney have to get along for the sake of future cases that will possibly help one another out. Remember a plea is an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant and if the agreement is broken then the plea will be revoked. For example if the defendant decided he don’t want to cooperate with investigations or testify against another then the plea will be revoked. In order to make sure the plea is in order; it must be in writing and sign by both parties. Its hard to believe that the court system try to offer a plea because of expense and the lengthy of trials.
Her is one example of plea deals that went wrong. Missouri college student Galin Frye was charged with a felony for a fourth offense of driving with a revoked license. The prosecutor sent Frye's lawyer a letter offering to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor if Frye would plead guilty and agree to a 90-day sentence. The lawyer, however, never informed his client of the offer, and when it expired, an uninformed Frye pleaded guilty with no conditions and was sentenced to three years in prison, more than 10 times the plea bargain offer. (NPR)
In this particular case the lawyer provided ineffective legal assistance. For this reason maybe the lawyer knew that the defendant was going to do the same thing again or the defense lawyer wanted a possible favor later on in a case. There is a
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