Amen to that. These guys are salty as fuck but if they were truly innocent why strike plea...and more importantly why plead guilty.
Originally Posted by Sistine Chapel
1. To avoid being bankrupted by legal fees
2. Because the difference between accepting a plea and losing at trial can be a matter of decades. Congress and legislatures have imposed maximum sentences and sentencing guidelines that enable prosecutors to lock up the accused for the rest of his life. If you're innocent do you really want to roll the dice?
3. The prosecutor agrees you'll receive a probated sentence if you confess. You may be incarcerated if you're found guilty. If you're innocent do you really want to roll the dice?
4. Harvey Silverglate, a noted lawyer and civil libertarian, argues that people inadvertently commit an average of three felonies a day. Prosecutors can find some law you violated, or can claim you violated a law, and lock you up, regardless of who you are. This is kind of what happened to Cohen, on the charges of illegal campaign contributions.
5. If you didn't commit a crime when law enforcement starts to investigate you, then they may use their superior legal knowledge to get you to commit one. This is what happened to Papadopoulos, who confessed to perjury.
Tens of thousands of people have plead guilty or struck plea agreements for crimes they didn't commit. Some will rot in jail for the rest of their lives. There is a high degree of hypocrisy in your position, if you do indeed have some compassion for people, including a disproportionate number of black men, who are unfairly convicted of crimes, or who are incarcerated for much longer periods than their crimes justify.