End the Massive Injustice & Abuse of Plea 'Bargains' That Dominate Our Legal Landscape
A jury of your peers is the ONLY REAL source of Justice. Just ask Daniel Penny. Prosecutorial Railroading of citizens into Jail is THE travesty of our times.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
The 6th Amendment to the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights: The Right to a Trial By Jury
Trial by jury is just about a thing of the past even though it’s GUARANTEED to us by the 6th Amendment of the Constitution. Paul Craig Roberts said in today’s post “Can the US Justice System Be Reformed to Serve Justice?”:
This abuse of law and defendants has become the main avenue of conviction in America today. Only about 3% of the convicted are convicted by a jury of their peers. 97% are convicted by self-incrimination to avoid the risks and expense of a court trial. Consequently, the evidence against the defendant is never tested in court. The police and prosecutors can make up whatever charge they wish as they know the defendant will not have his day in court. In most cases the defendant will admit to a different crime than the one he is indicted under, neither one of which will actually have been committed. Plea bargains save the prosecutor’s and judge’s time, maximize the prosecutor’s conviction rate which he uses for reelection or to move into higher office, and reduces prison time and cost for the defendant.
Just think how far gone our system of fairness has fallen: from guaranteed right for a jury of your peers to 97% of accused forced to accepted some kind of plea deal from some corrupt or ambitious prosecutor?
Oh, and forget about going to trial in a Federal prosecution! The Feds Prosecutors secure wins at 98% of cases and they can and will bankrupt you with you having only a 2% chance of “winning.” It’s totally rigged!
I’ve been called for jury duty many times and usually everyone waiting is sent home. Now I understand. There are plea bargains being made right before trials. There are basically very few jury trials. What I propose is that we ONLY HAVE jury trials. It can be done. Another idea: there’s already a big jury pool that could be used to hear and rule on during the “plea bargaining” process. That’s a way to inject the voice of your “community” and “peers” into a very shady process. But that’s just one suggestion. The other is to eliminate Plea Bargains entirely.
Imagine If Daniel Penny Took a Plea Deal?
First of all, he’d be in prison for 20 years because rabid, horrible NY prosecutors really wanted to “hang him high!” (You know, because the victim was black and crazy as hell.) If allowed, that’s EXACTLY what they do.
Your only chance of justice is a jury of your peers. But even that aspect is very dangerous in Manhattan, NYC as prosecutors will seek to sit the worst and dumbest jurors that they can find—probably all black in his case! I was joking, but then I searched and found artist sketch of the trial and I see quite a bit of blackness seated in the jury box. Oh boy, I’m glad justice was served in this case. Phew, dodged a bullet!
But my point is the same as made in countless movies; that juries can and do weigh 1) the entirety of the situation, 2) the political climate, 3) the dire circumstances, 4) the fairness of the law itself as it’s applied in a specific case and, 5) how they themselves would like to be treated and how might have acted, and weigh the severity of the charges versus remedies. Jurors can and do say “innocent” when there are extenuating circumstances. Daniel Penny did something, basically in self defense, that ended the life of a man. But the jury saved Daniel from ravenous, hysterical, blood-thirsty prosecutors who wanted him put in jail forever. THAT’S THE JOB OF A JURY.
Although he was proposing that Jurists could and should essentially “nullify unjust laws,” the concept of “Judicial Nullification,” what Lysander Spooner said in 1850 sounds correct here too:
“If juries were to serve their primary function of being “a palladium [safeguard] of liberty” and “a barrier against the tyranny and oppression of (any) government” rather than “mere tools in its hands,” then they must be willing to act as a legal check enforcing constitutional “limitations imposed upon the majority.”
Everyone should be able to make their case to a jury. It’s their only hope at times. Eliminate Plea Bargains.
The “Fedsurrection” and Gross Injustice of the J6 “Prosecutorial Railroading”
Also remember the gross injustice of the J6 “prosecutions” that entirely at the hands of rabid, insane and crazed Democrat “prosecutors.” It’s really the Democrats and Republican traitors who are the real criminals in so many ways:
From Paul Craig Roberts: ….think of the vile and corrupt way the majority of the J6 convictions were obtained. Of course, it was with politicized Democrat jurors, politicized Democrat prosecutors, and politicized Democrat judges in Democrat jurisdictions who understood that they were serving their party’s political propaganda and not justice. But I am speaking of the methods. The privacy of American citizens was violated in order to ascertain who attended the rally. Once a victim was chosen, a rigged indictment was brought. Prosecutors made it clear to the victim and attorney that contesting the charges in court with a trial would result in an add-on charge that carries a long prison sentence, whereas if they agreed to self-incrimination with a plea deal, prison time would be waived or greatly reduced. All the Democrats wanted was a bunch of “convictions” to support the propaganda of insurrection. Faced with the risks of a trial at the hands of Democrats and the cost of attorneys, most of the falsely accused self-incriminated.
The J6 defendants were at the hands of rabid, crazed and insane Democrats and Democrat prosecutors who were only interested in INVENTING a crime by setting up a fake “Fedsurrection” at the Capital to once again smear Conservatives and especially Mr. Trump. Don’t kid yourself, there were Feds in the crowd; Ray Epps being one for sure. They were there to stir up trouble. Also Trump supporters called out the individuals that were hammering at Capitol Building window saying “they’re not with us!” Of course, years later Tucker Carlson showed Capital Bldg videos of capital police and the protestors being given a tour by Capital police—which painted an entirely different picture than INSURRECTION!!!
But all this gets much, much worse. The Democrats, really the “Uniparty,” also needed and, in fact CREATED “a contrived emergency” to block any objections by State Electors from being heard at the Joint Session that was already convened to count the elector vote totals. The timing of the J6 Fedsurrection is impeccable—it was EXACTLY during that Congressional session!
See my very important post: The Jan. '21 Parliamentary Procedural Motivations Behind the J6 "Fedsurrection."
There were, in fact, many Electors with objections to the conduct of the election. In fact, there were MANY Electors who prepared to object to blatant election manipulation and outright election theft. You see, not everyone is dumb. The Uniparty of Pence, Pelosi and McConnel then successfully "manufactured” an “emergency” that gave a pretext for Pelosi and Pence to end that session and stop any “recorded Elector objections” to assure Democrats would “win” the rigged election.
You see, if even a single Elector’s challenge were recorded on the Congressional record of those proceedings, it would have given that challenger legal standing to take the matter to the US Supreme Court if necessary.
That was all carefully thwarted by the declaration of an “emergency” and Pence, Pelosi and McConnell walked out of the proceedings, ending the Electoral Count session and any chance of objections being on the Congressional record.
Listen people, these people are spawn of the devil!
If interested, also see my posts: The 2020 Election Was Beyond All Doubt Fraudulent and Short Takes #6: Persecution of Conservatives; Blacks Were the 'Muscle' in the Election Steal, I explain why there would have been ample objections by many responsible, thinking Electors.
Injustice and Our Prison Nation
America has more people in prison than China despite the US having 1/4th of their population. Why? The first answer is that our culture and society has failed and there are now prohibitions against virtually every human activity. If I look at a cop wrong, I could be in handcuffs! Gone are the days where “natural law” ruled men. See my post Nations Torn Asunder: When Natural Law is Subverted By Government, to explain my meaning. In our colonial era, people conducted their lives by the 10 Commandments and thru the morality understood from Christitianity. Now we have 10,000 Commandments! The US now has over 4,160,000 laws! Here’s just a sample of outrageous rule-making—just at the Federal level:
We’re ALL almost certainly criminals in the eyes of the government. Surely, you and I have violated one of the 4 million laws! There is very likely some crazy-ass rule, regulation or law that we violate daily; there’s so many.
We need jurors of people to adjudicate fair application of the law. IT’S THE LAW!! LITERALLY. It’s the 6th Amendment to the Bill of Rights!
Remember, Prosecutors can Even Indict a Ham Sandwich!
In that post (Prosecutors can Even Indict a Ham Sandwich), is worth a look at this point. There Martin Armstrong says in April 2024:
You will be shocked at how the government abuses the law all the time.
They are NOT required to tell even the truth to a Grand Jury, and they are NOT required to present ANY contrary evidence. The Supreme Court has WRONGLY held that you have no right to be present at a Grand Jury. You have the right to defend yourself before the jury in court.
What is wrong with it is they can accuse you of murdering your spouse with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, throw you in pretrial detention, keep you there for years, or pay an inmate to kill you all with NO EVIDENCE OF GUILT! You are then indicted, and it is your burden to prove your innocence. Our legal system is so bad that it is frustrating. They have killed people, claiming they murdered someone, and have no body or any evidence.
An Indictment is an ABUSE OF POWER as it is being used today. In Florida, you have Trump fighting just to get a list of who will testify against him. They provide no notice and consistently seek to present guilt by surprise.
The way indictments are obtained is really a violation of the spirit of DUE PROCESS OF LAW, where a citizen MUST be provided with clear evidence of such a charge – fair notice.
[Doug here: Who’s fighting FOR the defendant?? Who’s gathering evidence for you while you’re in jail? What if you have few friends or little money? Answer: you’re screwed. Maybe defendants should have a right to hire a private investigator and lawyer paid by The State?]
Reforming our prosecutorial system is no longer just a proposition—it is an urgent imperative
From a Brookings Institute Article from June ‘23, that is well worth a read. [Doug here: I recommend the entire article, but here’s some of it, my edit:]
Each year, more than 2.3 million felonies and 10 million misdemeanors are handled by over 2,300 individual prosecutor’s offices, but these crucial decisions are largely made outside the watchful eye of the public’s scrutiny. Prosecutors control secret grand jury proceedings, determine who will face prosecution, and decide the specifics of charges. They operate within a labyrinthine legal framework, armed with the threat of lengthy mandatory minimum sentences. This creates strong incentives for defendants to agree to lesser charges, even for crimes they did not commit.
More than 90% of both federal and state court cases are resolved through plea bargaining, sidestepping the courtroom entirely. [Doug here: This means few jury trials and any opportunity for a ‘jury of your peers’ to properly adjudicate your case and consider factors that matter such as prosecutorial misconduct. Heck, everyone should be able to get a trial by jury!] This confluence of autonomy, secrecy, complex laws, and powerful sentencing tools endow prosecutors with enormous leverage, leading critics to question whether this prosecutorial power is wielded too selectively and relentlessly, undermining the right to a fair trial, fostering mass incarceration, and eroding what’s left of the public’s faith in equal justice.
Official misconduct by both police and prosecutors contributed to nearly 60% of exoneration cases since 1989. Such misconduct can adopt many faces: a prosecutor might hide evidence that could absolve the defendant, a practice known as “Brady violations”; they might unduly influence witnesses, pushing them to exaggerate or fabricate testimonies; or they might cross boundaries during the trial by making misleading statements to the jury. Such actions have become commonplace, leading to wrongful convictions and playing a part in approximately 30% of wrongful conviction cases that have led to exoneration. Despite these unsettling figures, only 4% of prosecutors face repercussions for their actions, painting a grim portrait of a system in which misconduct often remains unaddressed.
Literally everything is broken in the USA and The West. At some point I believe that there will be a final collapse, both financial and social, to allow our system to be rebuilt from the ground up. It’s probably already beginning, especially in Euro-land.