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Plea Bargain Advantages A successfully negotiated plea bargain will: 1. Some defendants want to remove the emotional pressure associated with going to trial: However, the defendant may have less leverage after an indictment and greater leverage closer to the trial date. Although he or she may face additional risks, there are potential rewards to the strategy. You and your attorney have the opportunity to review the case evidence and investigate witnesses.
You also have the opportunity to file motions regarding the exclusion of evidence or impeach certain witnesses. This strategy can result in a reduced plea offer. A criminal trial can bring added embarrassment to family members who shun the public eye.
Your background may be probed and investigated less by prosecutors as a result. Possibly result in fewer or less serious offenses on your record. The possibility of receiving the maximum sentence for the offense is greatly reduced. Reduction a charge from a felony to a misdemeanor can help you in the future. A felony conviction may be used to discredit you in later criminal or civil proceedings.
A felony conviction could mean loss of your right to vote. If you lose the trial, you might face more serious convictions in the aftermath. If a first offense was bargained to a reckless driving charge, you might not face jail if a second DUI conviction occurs later on. Negotiating a plea bargain lightens his or her case load. Negotiating a plea bargain provides a benefit to society. A lighter case schedule helps the criminal justice system to operate more effectively. For instance, a prosecutor might reduce a stigmatizing rape or molestation case to assault.
If you have to serve additional time, you might get out sooner than if you insist on going to trial. Save time. Negotiating a plea bargain will expedite the judicial process. Reduced charges can result in your being moved from prison to jail. This may be perceived as a positive or negative. For example, if a defendant is charged with multiple murders, his or her criminal defense attorney might negotiate a plea deal involving a single murder.
It is important to provide Character references from family, friends, co-workers, and members of the community to corroborate your personal circumstance and quality of character. Negotiations often occur when there are multiple charges available. For instance, one account of common assault may also include another count of aggravated assault. In exchange for a plea of guilty, the prosecution may agree to leave in place the lesser of the two charges. This, of course, means less time spent in jail or a smaller fine, whatever the incident in question may be.
Negotiations may also result in the substitution of charges or rolled up counts, which combines similar offences into one or fewer. At Russo Lawyers, we are committed to our clients and will get to the bottom of the facts in the vigorous pursuit of justice. Free Call: enquiries russolawyers.
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Why do negotiations take place? The sheer numbers have caused many legal observers to question the propriety of rampant plea bargaining. Some critics of plea bargaining argue that the process is unfair to criminal defendants. These critics claim that prosecutors possess too much discretion in choosing the charges that a criminal defendant may face. When a defendant is arrested, prosecutors have the authority to level any charge if they possess enough facts to support a reasonable belief that the defendant committed the offense.
Thus, for leverage, a prosecutor may tack on similar, more serious charges without believing that the charges can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. Because prosecutors are evaluated in large part on their conviction rates, they are forced to try to win at all costs. According to some critics, prosecutors use overcharging to coerce guilty pleas from defendants and deprive them of the procedural safeguards and the full investigation of the trial process.
For example, assume that a defendant is arrested for trespassing. The prospect of facing a trial on three separate criminal charges may induce the defendant to plea bargain because the potential cumulative punishment for all three crimes is severe.
Ultimately the defendant may plead guilty to, and forfeit the right to a trial on, the trespassing charge, the only charge that stands a chance of being proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Such a plea bargain, claim some critics, is an illusory bargain for criminal defendants. The practice of overcharging is impermissible, and courts may dismiss superfluous charges. However, courts are reluctant to prevent the prosecution from presenting a case on a charge that is supported by probable cause.
Prosecutors have discretion in plea bargaining, and they may withdraw offers after making them. A defendant is also free to reject a plea bargain. In many cases, where a plea bargain is withdrawn or rejected and the case goes to trial, the defendant, if found guilty, receives punishment more severe than that offered by the prosecution in the plea bargain.
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