Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
I also pause if the country is prepared to compromise its system of justice by saying, if you plead guilty to a lesser charge than the crime we think you really committed, we will give you a less harsh penalty ... especially if, after that compact has been made, and the accused has burnt his bridges by pleading guilty, the judiciary reneges on it by threatening a more severe penalty. After all, he might have been innocent, but saw no way of avoiding a guilty verdict in such a system.
I don't think that was the situation, at least in the case we've been alluding to. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in the HOPES of a sentence of probation. Such a plea bargain, if I understand the law correctly, usually cannot specify a specific sentence. At best, the prosecutors can only promise not to ask for a maximum sentence, or to recommend a certain sentence, but it's up to either the judge or a jury to actually impose sentence. In this case, when he learned that their was a POSSIBILITY of having prison time imposed, he fled. Sentence had never been imposed.

I don't suppose I've said anything that hasn't already been covered, but I thought I'd state which side of the line I am on.
It's so rare when you and I find ourselves on the same side of a line, too!