Comments on: Take the Deal

By: Sparky

Sparky — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:53:15 +0000

Another consideration regarding plea bargaining is whether the defendant has a prior conviction that the prosecutor can use at trial; although the facts of the prior must be limited to show only motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity and absence of mistake or accident, it usually makes a juror think that if the defendant did it before, he or she would do it again. Then there is the situation where the prosecutor threatens to add additional charges which would increase potential penalties if the defendant does not “take the deal.”

By: richard locicero

richard locicero — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:11:44 +0000

Of course without plea bargaining the whole system would be even more chaotic then it is now as there would not be enough courts or judges to hear all the cases at trial.

By: Woody

Woody — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:39:03 +0000

They should set up the court like Howie Mandel’s “Deal or No Deal,” where they have different plea bargains on a board and you get to choose one at random and then get your best deal by eliminating the bad ones. It would be as fair and would provide fun while freeing up the courts.