Are Criminal Lawyers' Clients Pressured into Pleading Guilty by Plea Bargains?

In a recent criminal trial, Judge Cormac Carney actually voided a guilty plea. As incredible as it sounds, although the defendant had actually said "Yes, I committed the crime and am willing to be punished for it," when the judge reviewed the facts of the case, he believed further investigation was needed. Today we are exploring why this might happen, and the challenges for criminal attorneys and their clients in deciding whether to take a plea bargain or to fight unfair charges.

What is a Plea Bargain?

In a plea bargain, the prosecutor offers some sort of benefits to an alleged criminal, in exchange for them pleading guilty. Much as to outsiders, this seems to flaunt the idea of justice (after all, shouldn’t people simply receive a sentence fit for their crime?), if every criminal case went to trial the court system would effectively be crippled.

In some cases, plea bargains might involve a reduced sentence. In other cases the charge is downgraded, from burglary to attempted burglary, for example.

The Real Controversy

There is controversy among law scholars, the general public and criminal lawyers as to whether plea bargains should even exist. We mentioned earlier that they seem a naturally unjust way to work, favoring practicality over true justice. But the issues run deeper than the simple possibility of letting some criminals out of prison before society believes they should be, as we can see from a real life case.

A Recent, Real Life Case

In a recent, real life case with criminal attorney Gordon Greenberg and former Broadcom founder and defendant Henry Samueli, the defendant entered a guilty plea which was reversed by the judge. The plea bargain was signed by Samueli on the understanding that he believed he had broken the law. However, this belief was based on a distortion of evidence by the prosecuting attorneys. Samueli's criminal lawyer may have advised him of this, or he may have only had access to the prosecutor's evidence.

What can be done about the situation? A plea bargain can sometimes make good sense for a defendant -- but there are plenty of gray areas that exist. Choose a criminal attorney who is a true expert in the crime field you have been charged with, and listen to their advice to avoid ending up a victim of the plea bargain system.