| From: | Tuvyah@***.COM |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: [OT] Movie Gunfight Misconceptions (Was: Stupid 2 gun r |
| Date: | Sun, 11 May 1997 03:28:53 -0400 |
>>It has been my experiance that the
criminals never do anywhere near the time they are supposedly looking
at...First..plea bargaining..
<snip>
It's remarkable how little plea-bargaining there is when the defendants use
military-grade weapons, fire at every person in sight, and are caught in the
act on the local news. <g> The ones that aren't killed by the cops don't see
the light of day for a very long time. (And the LAPD has a reputation of
trying to save our overworked penal system the cost of yet another
incarceration....)
Plea-bargaining and good-behavior leniency are both situational tactics.
Plea-bargaining is meant to save the state the cost of a lengthy
investigation and/or trial. When the defendants are as clearly ID'd as they
were in this case, there's no need to plea-bargain.
More to the point, it would have been political suicide for the Los Angeles
D.A. to plea-bargain felons as violent and well known as the North Hollywood
bank robbers. Had the robbers lived, every Angeleno would have been howling
for their blood. Generally speaking, as soon as a case receives massive media
attention, all the unwritten rules governing plea-bargains and leniency (and
obvious guilt, right, O.J.?) fly out the window.
Now, had this been the stick-up of a Circle-K somewhere off Interstate 5 near
Fresno, plea-bargaining and "good behavior" might well have come into play.
Smilin' Ted
"...who knows why he's smilin'."
P.S. Since this is fairly OT, this is it for me on this topic unless the
whole can o' worms really opens up.
