PLEA DEALS IN A CRIMINAL CASE
A plea deal is a deal offered to a defendant in a criminal case to avoid trial. In most cases, a plea deal is offered, but in some cases, neither the judge nor the prosecutor will offer a plea deal. The most important question is whether or not it’s a good deal.
What Factors Are Considered in a Plea Deal
Usually, when a prosecutor offers a deal, it is based on whether they think the evidence they have against the defendant is strong. For instance, if they feel that they can prove the case very easily, there’s no incentive for them to offer the defendant a good plea deal (unless they feel bad for the defendant, but more on that below). On the other hand, if the prosecutor feels that there are problems with the case, such as inconsistent statements by witnesses, blurriness of the surveillance videos, or that the evidence just seems weak for some reason, then he or she will offer a much better plea deal to the defendant. In certain cases, police misconduct, such as a questionable search by a police officer, will lead to a good plea deal because the prosecutor knows that there’s a possibility that the case will get dismissed if the defense lawyer files a motion to keep out whatever evidence was found during the search.
Getting the Prosecutor to Like Your Client
In many cases, a criminal defense lawyer will ask the client (the defendant) and the client’s family members to provide documents or pictures that show the good character of the defendant. This is called mitigation. Mitigation is given to the prosecutor to show that the defendant is actually a respected member of the community and that he or she just made a mistake. A good criminal defense attorney will also show that the defendant has a family that depends on him or her and that jail time would be devastating for the the defendant’s family. Presenting mitigation to the prosecutor is a good way of getting a better plea deal if the law and evidence is not helpful to the defense.
A good criminal defense lawyer will do all of these things to keep his or her client out of jail. Call us today at 213-235-7969 so that we can start fighting for you or a loved one. We represent clients in LA County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and all over southern California, in both state AND federal court. We pride ourselves on being aggressive and doing whatever we can for our clients.
