Editorial: The art of the plea agreement in court cases

Whenever I put posts up on our social media sites, I usually monitor them to make sure that comments are not demeaning or inappropriate as the Chronicle is read by patrons of all ages. One of the more interesting comments that I get to read revolves around court stories and how plea deals are offered to defendants. While I am no expert in the process or in law, I can use common sense to help explain the process of a plea deal. Remember, this is not expert information, but based on my observations for the last seven plus years of sitting in a courtroom and literally hearing thousands of cases.

The first thing is that a plea deal doesn’t have to be offered by the prosecuting attorney. So, why do they do it? There are a few factors that weigh into this. One, a plea deal does save money of the taxpayers, as court cases are funded by those funds. Second, sometimes the victim wants the case to be resolved quickly. An example of this is if an employee embezzles from their job. The owner of the store may just want the funds that were taken restored, and if the person who stole the money pays it off, then the charge may be reduced to a misdemeanor because the actions were resolved. This can happen similar to in cases where sexual abuse takes place as the victim does not want to relive or testify about the experiences in court over and over again. The emotional trauma could weigh down the victim to a point of depression, and a plea deal could be an option to avoid that happening.

Second, remember the defendant does not have to take the plea deal. If a plea deal is offered, the defendant can say no. If they are innocent or believe they have a case to fight the charge, the defendant can refuse it. This results in a trial taking place, thus nullifying the need of a plea deal.

Finally, the judge can refuse a plea deal. If the plea deal does not make sense, the judge can refuse to accept it and recuse him/herself from the trial. An example of a case I’ve seen where the judge refused the plea deal surrounded a motorcyclist traveling 110 miles per hour in a 70 miles per hour zone. A plea deal was made to reduce felony eluding charge to reckless driving was rejected by the judge due to listening a summary of the evidence that revealed the motorcyclist was weaving back and forth in traffic and pulling away despite the driver receiving the signal and trying to run after he wrecked his motorcycle.

In conclusion, plea deals are going to be existent at all levels of the justice system. A defendant doesn’t have to receive one and if they do, they can reject it. People won’t agree with the plea deal or the consequences, but sometimes it’s the substance in the matter that makes a difference in resolving the issue.