THE ART OF THE PLEA BARGAIN...

Law enforcement and the Courts have always had a close relationship, in fact both entities couldn’t exist without one another. If I arrest someone and there isn’t a court to convict them the system fails. If the court issues orders and there aren’t any LEOs to assist in enforcing them the system fails. 

Normally both entities work well with one another, however sometimes the court is way too lenient on people in my opinion. I have seen murderers get less time than people who embezzled other people’s money and ruined their lives in the process. However, Court is a whole different ball game then on the street. Most cases are always determined way before they ever are seen in front of an actual judge.

I refer to it as the art of the Plea, attached to every courtroom or at least in the courthouse is an area where attorneys for both the plaintiff and defendant meet and discuss what can be done to avoid the case going to trial. Most of the time an agreement is made and the Plea Bargain is signed by all parties involved. Now if the deal is too lenient the Judge can overrule it and deny it stating respective reasons why to those present in court. If that happens the case is going to trial most likely. 

The art of the Plea works so well because it avoids going to trial, this can be beneficial for either party depending on the case. The Plaintiff lawyer may not have enough evidence to get a guilty verdict if the case went to trial, so they would attempt to get a guilty plea by bargaining to a sort with the opposition.

On the other hand, the Defendant’s lawyer may not want it to go to trial because they know their client will be found guilty, so they would deal for a lesser charge with less punishment. Once everything is signed and agreed upon, the subject pleads guilty in front of the Judge, then gets the punishment agreed upon in the plea agreement.

I say all this because LEOs very rarely have much input throughout the plea bargaining process, most of the times its already done by the time the LEO assigned to the case finds out. Now the LEO can let the Plaintiff Lawyer know what that a specific outcome is desirable, however it is up the lawyer to make that happen.

One of the most important lessons a LEO has to learn is to never take court personally, if the person gets off on the judges leniency, Plea Bargain, or a technicality just let it go. The investigation, probable cause, resources, evidence, etc. that were utilized in getting that person into the courtroom was not wasted, we did our jobs and have to understand that convicting them is not our job. 

The Art of the Plea Bargain...