CDR: Re: Declan on Bell

[Eric Cordian]

Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com> writes:

> Bell was not coerced into taking the plea agreement; if 
> anything, he seems to have more mental resources to fight
> the system than other defendants I have interviewed.

Unless the plea agreement specifies a sentence equal to the upper range
that would likely be applied after a conviction was won, it is not
difficult to infer that the plea agreement is being signed in order to
lock-in a shorter sentence, with the accuracy of the government's account
of the alleged misdeeds being a lesser consideration.

Most plea bargaining, by its very nature, is coercion plain and simple.

Just as the common practice of cutting deals in return for testimony the
prosecution wants, or deferring sentencing until such testimony has been
provided, results in coerced testimony.

That the Justice System recognizes the payment of even one penny to a
witness as tainting testimony, but looks the other way when years are
knocked off sentences in order to secure testimony or agreement to
government-authored laundry lists of antisocial acts, is evidence of the
degree to which the government values expediency over fairness in
processing caseloads.

So I repeat my question.  Does Jim Bell, aside from signing a statement
prepared for him by the government, in order to avoid a much longer
sentence, acknowlege annoying the IRS with unpleasant-smelling chemical
substances?  A "yes" or "no" will suffice.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"