You come out of your shell and tell us what you really think03Lightningrocks wrote:Socioeconomic factors play a very heavy roll in plea deals much of the time. I will bet dollars to donuts that the majority of bum plea deals accepted in our great country are accepted by people of lower income status.
Standing up tall on the Internet and proclaiming one would never accept a pla bargain for a crime they did not commit is real easy to do. It is however, NOT REALITY. It is also a luxury that only the wealthy can enjoy.
I have an idea. How about we all share real stories of our criminal charges, how we proved our innocence and what the total cost was. Everyone else... Well.... Just hope and pray you never find yourself facing that very difficult choice.
I will start. Two counts... Aggravated assualt and attempted murder. Possible sentence... 30 years hard time. If it goes to trial... Legal expenses could easily exceed 15 grand... Appeals would be in addition. I was already down 15k for my ten percent of the 150k bond and 2500 to get my attorney out of bed. My options were to fight it and pay those bills... Or plead it out and get off with probation.... No jail time. Two kids at home... No mother or anyone else to care for them. I told the lawyer I would burn in heck before I plead guilty to opening up on those two scum bags. I had the money that allowed me the luxury of fighting it... No matter the cost.
Take that same scenario and a public defender while I am sitting in jail with no money for bond and two kids alone at home, that I could lose to the system and what would I do? Anything I had to so I could take care of my kids!!
People!! Like it or not... Our justice system is a travesty! It is weighted in the favor of people with money! Quit talking about who shot John unless you have been there... Done that. If you have never faced a real threat of spending time in prison, don't get on a Internet forum and brag about what you would do. Would you go to jail to prove your point? You can't answer because you have not been there.
I'm done now...
The internet is THE modern place for folks to huff and puff about what they would do in various situations. The reality is that those who have been there (and have the T-shirt to prove it) are the only one's that really know what they would or would not do.