CDR: Re: Declan on Bell

[James A. Donald]

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At 02:31 PM 11/11/2000 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote:
 > I'm not taking a position on Bell's case. I do need to tell my
 > readers why was locked up earlier, and that seemed a reasonable way
 > to do it.  Bell was not coerced into taking the plea agreement;

All plea agreements are coercive.  The serious charge that the prosecutor 
threatens the accused with necessarily has some relationship to evidence 
that the prosecutor possesses, or else it would not be a threat.

The alternative lesser charge that the prosecutor offers need have no 
relationship to the evidence, and usually has no relationship.   It is a 
mere formality.

Even in non political cases, there is a strong tendency to make the lesser 
charge something that is wrong it itself, rather than a lesser form of the 
more serious charge, to make the lesser charge a crime something where 
police and prosecution have more support than they have for the more 
serious charge.

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          James A. Donald
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