Bribery, greed: All for a little bit of Ivy League

See also, professional athletes. Equate wealth and fame with intelligence and knowledge.

 

So if you don't immediately plead guilty and take a plea bargain the feds get to pile on more charges. This is not a country based on rule of law and presumption of innocence. This is already more fascist than anything Trumpian.

 

And, indeed, that was the message. But it was an acceptable message this time, because everybody knows Aunt Becky was guilty. Loughlin was a pretty good choice of villain, as she was a privileged white celebrity whose crime was to seize opportunity from the deserving by using her wealth and privilege.

But the message? Capitulate to the government when charged with a crime, don’t fight and take the plea they offer, or else. For those who are inclined to believe that anyone charged with a crime is guilty, this message will be uncontroversial.

For those people who think otherwise, does the fact that this was Aunt Becky make the superseding indictment, adding charges of money laundering on top of the original charges as a way to crush her, punish her, pay her back for her failure to genuflect to the might of the government, acceptable? When our willingness to give any thought to the message is constrained by our emotions, how much we love or hate the defendant, then why bother to waste time worrying about the process. This was privileged Lori Loughlin, so who cares what they do to her?

Short Take: Aunt Becky’s Bad Choice

 

Not really. Like with any other case, if you are guilty and don’t take a deal, you’re in a race with the prosecutor. Once he or she presents all potential charges to a grand jury —which is required in felony cases unless the defendant waives it — there’s a chance the water could get deeper, like it did here.

In the local court here, the district attorney (a friend) has told me that once he’s expended the manpower preparing an argument and preparing witnesses for a grand jury, he deal’s off the table, and you can either plead guilty to the top charge or go to trial.

 

You are right this is standard practice and has a practical effect of greasing the skids of the criminal justice system. If you are innocent and falsely accused you would have a different perspective.

 

I suppose I’d have a lot of different perspectives if I was innocent. I didn’t realize we were on the assumption that these parents were innocent. Cary on.

 

Back to a point a made earlier, if you had the option of sending Felicity Huffman to jail by paying $10 extra in income tax or having her endow a dozen low income scholarships at no cost to you, which would you chose?

 

Innocent or guilty, the system is massively invested in the skids being greased for a plea deal.

 

Read the link I posted above from a criminal defense attorney. It explains it.

 

It's not the prosecutor's job to presume innocence; that's the jury's. The prosecutor is bringing chargers (if they do) because they believe you are guilty.