Steigerwalt Law Firm

NEW SUPREME COURT DECISION ON PLEA BARGAINS

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently handed down a decision that affects an overwhelming number of defendants in criminal cases. The high court’s ruling affects individuals in crimes ranging from driving under the influence to murder and involves the responsibilities of lawyers to inform defendants of the possibility that prosecutors might offer a plea bargain in their case and to explain all the consequences of either accepting or turning one down.

The reality of our criminal justice system is that the overwhelming number of criminal cases are resolved in plea bargains, rather than in cases going to trial and being decided by a jury. Television and movies love to focus on the drama of a trial and the “gotcha” moments of the truth suddenly being revealed before enthralled jurors. However, over 90 percent of all such cases end in plea bargains in which both prosecutors and the defendant agree on a resolution of the case.

In many cases, the resolution can be a guilty plea to a less serious charge, one that carries lighter penalties in terms of fines, probation or time spent behind bars at a jail or prison. There are a number of reasons for plea bargains and here are some that occur most frequently.

• Judges encourage plea bargains because otherwise the court system would be impossibly clogged with trials for which there are not enough judges, courtrooms or jurors.

• Prosecutors frequently “overcharge” the allegations against a defendant, frequently because they do not have all of the evidence at the time that a complaint is filed.

• The evidence in the case may present problems for both the prosecution and the defense that neither side feels comfortable about in going to trial.

• The defense lawyer may have come up with new evidence that shows prosecutors that they have filed charges more serious than merited.

• The defense lawyer may find that evidence in the case was mishandled, which can weaken the prosecution’s case.

• The defense lawyer may provide extenuating circumstances, for instance in a domestic violence case in which a wife’s long-standing history of abuse might explain why she acted in a criminal manner.
Getting back to the Supreme Court decision, the justices ruled based on two cases before them which both involved plea bargains. In one case the defendant wasn’t informed of the plea bargain. In the other, the defendant was misinformed by his lawyer. Here’s the analysis as presented in the Los Angeles Times:

Galin E. Frye was charged by the state of Missouri with driving with a revoked license, a felony because he had several previous convictions. The district attorney offered Frye's lawyer two possible plea deals, one of which would have required him to serve only 90 days in prison. The lawyer, however, didn't inform Frye of the offers, which expired after six weeks. Ultimately Frye pleaded guilty and received a three-year sentence. In the second case, Anthony Cooper shot a woman in her buttock and thighs, causing serious injuries. Prosecutors offered Cooper's lawyers a plea deal in which he would have served a minimum sentence of 51 to 85 months. Cooper turned down the offer because his attorney inaccurately told him that he couldn't be convicted of intent to murder because his victim was shot below the waist. Cooper went to trial, was convicted and was sentenced to 185 to 360 months.
Writing for the majority in both cases, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy abandoned the abstraction that often defines Supreme Court opinions and confronted the hard fact that "criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials." (Were it otherwise, the courts would be clotted with cases.) Given that reality, Kennedy announced two rules: First, a defense counsel must "communicate formal offers from the prosecution to accept a plea on terms and conditions that may be favorable to the accused." Second, if a plea bargain has been offered, "a defendant has the right to effective assistance of counsel in considering whether to accept it." If a lawyer fails in either duty, a defendant can challenge his conviction or sentence in court.

Here, at San Diego Defense Lawyers, our team of attorneys is well-versed in plea bargains, having spent years arranging such resolutions with the District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney’s Office and with the city attorneys’ offices of jurisdictions across San Diego County.

Ensuring that a defendant is aware of any plea bargain that might have been offered by prosecutors and completely explaining all of the details and ramifications of those offers have been among the legal responsibilities that we uphold to the fullest.

Defendants in criminal cases frequently find themselves in difficult situations in which they will eventually have to make decisions which will have long-reaching effects on them and their loved ones. It is one of the cornerstones of our practice to provide our clients all of the information they will need about their case to make informed decisions about what is involved in a plea bargain and whether a plea bargain is best for them.