You’ve picked up state felony or federal charges, and two options lay before you: take a plea deal and avoid stiffer penalties or go to trial.
Statistics show you’re likely going to prison either way, but plea bargaining is more likely to result in reduced time and fewer penalties. Going to trial and risking a guilty verdict exposes defendants to higher penalties than taking a plea.
The chances of a not guilty verdict range from one in 100 to one in 500, depending on the year and jurisdiction. Understandably, on average, 97 percent of federal and statewide felony cases end in a plea bargain.
“The truth of it is unfortunate as it is – there’s also the factor that if a defendant is charged with real serious crimes, sitting under a high bond and can’t get it reduced, and they’ve been sitting in a county jail for several months, at some point, it’s natural – they’re going to start thinking about, ‘Hey, what have I got to do to get out of here?’” Kinston attorney Mark Herring said.
“And, is that totally fair and just? No, but it is the reality of it,” he said.
The Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution outlaw the deprivation “of life, liberty or property” without due process by states or the federal government. Due process is understood to include such procedures as the right to trial.
Costs, risk and the time it takes to go through the process of a trial weigh both on the defense and the prosecution alike.
“If there’s no incentive to go plea, you’re going to go to trial,” Herring said. “In our system, it’s bogged-down enough as it is. If we didn’t do plea bargains, we’d be at a stand-still. It’s really unimaginable how bad it would be. So, a lower possible sentence is the primary consideration for a defendant.”
Issues surrounding the plea bargaining process have been around for decades, but events took a turn with the establishment of things like structured sentencing and – especially on the federal level – mandatory minimum sentences.
Slate’s Michael Kinsley, writing in March 2002, noted a structural concern in the system.
“And when, as part of a plea bargain, innocent people confess to a crime they did not commit, that isn't a breakdown of the system,” Kinsley wrote. “It is the system working exactly as it is supposed to.”
He later added, “You don't have to confess, but extra years of prison are the price if you don't.”
In the latest available statistics, in Lenoir County – for felony cases subject to plea or trial – 99.4 percent of all cases ended in a plea deal. Statewide, the number was an even 97 percent.
North Carolina allows for what’s called an Alford plea, which is when a defendant enters into a plea bargain but doesn’t admit guilt, which is an out for defendants who may not be guilty but can’t overcome the prosecution’s evidence.
In federal court, the district U.S. Attorney’s Office can pick up a state case and create a federal one – usually in those of a severe enough nature and with a high enough likelihood of conviction.
A study published Dec. 5 by Human Rights Watch noted the trend, especially carries in drug cases.
Because mandatory minimum sentences were based on the amount of the drugs involved, they resulted in lengthy prison terms for a significant amount of people on the low end of the distribution network.
“If you’re in a conspiracy, you’re in a conspiracy – it’s a bad spot in federal court,” Herring said.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina fielded 816 cases over the 2012 fiscal year, and only 10 defendants came out not guilty. In all, 96.4 percent of cases ended in a guilty plea.
By a process of accepting personal responsibility with the plea, and the option to provide information about others’ criminal activity – and the conviction rate – there’s significant incentive to plea.
The U.S. Supreme Court implicitly noted plea bargaining as a modern cornerstone of the judicial process when it ruled 5-4 in 2012 recognizing defendants’ right to an attorney during pretrial negotiations.
In two cases brought before the court, defendants didn’t receive proper counsel and didn’t make plea deals, resulting in longer sentences.
Ten years after the Kinsley piece, Matthew Yglesias, also writing in Slate, pointed out, “The basic point is that the operation of the criminal justice system is only feasible because so few criminal defendants insist on a jury trial. If all defendants cooperated and insisted on a trial, it would in practice be necessary to let a huge number of them go free.”
He also noted, however, that because of the large incentive for defendants to plea, they’ll take that deal.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.
Breakout Boxes
Lenoir County Superior Court, Fiscal Year 2012-13
Total felony cases not dismissed or otherwise disposed: 762
Total guilty or no contest pleas: 99.4 percent (758)
Plea, guilty or no contest: 97.6 percent (744)
Plea, guilty or no contest to lesser charge: 1.8 percent (14)
Trial, guilty: 0.2 percent (2)
Trial, not guilty: 0.2 percent (2)
Source: N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts
Statewide Superior Courts, Fiscal Year 2011-12
Total felony cases not dismissed or otherwise disposed: 71,873
Total guilty or no contest pleas: 97 percent (69,763)
Plea, guilty or no contest: 78.9 percent (56,720)
Plea, guilty or no contest to lesser charge: 18.1 percent (13,043)
Trial, guilty: 2.1 percent (1,573)
Trial, not guilty: 0.7 percent (503)
Source: N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Fiscal Year 2012
Total cases not dismissed or otherwise disposed: 816
Plea, guilty: 96.4 percent (787)
Trial, guilty: 2.3 percent (19)
Trial, not guilty: 1.2 percent (10)
Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission