Casinos and Used Car Sales: The Criminal Justice System

A Client’s Role during Plea Bargaining, part 9 of 12

Just like the Judge, Prosecutors work for the Government, and have to dispose of cases or their court will be paralyzed, she will not be able to seek Justice, and probably get fired.

Clients get very frustrated because they can’t observe or take part in the plea negotiation process. I often hear, “if I could explain to the Prosecutor or the Judge, she will understand and drop this case.

Very often my response is: “well, that’s what you thought (instead of hiring a good lawyer) the detective would do when you let him interrogate you. Even after he warned you that ‘you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say can and will be used against you in court………’

Clients don’t realize that the law allows detectives to deceive a suspect to get a confession. But the Constitution’s 5th Amendment right to remain silent is so powerful that if, in a Trial, the Detective even mentions that the accused invoked the right to remain silent or asked for a lawyer, game over. The Judge declares a mistrial and the accused, whether guilty or innocent, cannot be tried again. This is called Double Jeopardy.

Detectives are far better at interrogations than many lawyers because they are trained on how to do it. They may be terrible in Court. But in their environment, you are better shutting up (take the 5th Amendment). And, unfortunately, almost always, statements by the accused are admissible. To make matters worse, if and when a case proceeds to trial, very rarely does the accused take the stand.

NOT because they are necessarily guilty as charged, but because they almost always get nervous, scared, don’t make good witnesses and are completely unfamiliar with.