History Main / PleaBargain

* In ''Film/AFewGoodMen'', Lt. Dan Kaffee (Creator/TomCruise's character) has made a career out of skillful plea bargaining, but he decides not to on this case once he sees the emotional damage it'd do to his clients.
** Not only has Kaffee made a career out of his plea negotiating skills, but it's pretty much implied that the authorities assigned him to the case with the expectation that he'd plea his clients out, thus preventing the scandalous details of PFC Santiago's death from becoming public.
** Kaffee actually takes the plea bargain to his client, who gives him an earful of IWontSayImGuilty.

* A plea bargain given to the wrong party (the actual killer, who sold his patsy down the river) is the motive for ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'' to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* In ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'', Rumpole ultimately makes a point of never having his clients plead guilty, and any lawyer in the books who even thinks of plea bargaining is seen as a moron. The odd thing is that Rumpole sometimes does lose the case this way, but the story is clearly on his side.
** There is one story where Rumpole does end up going for a plea bargain, but only after his client has made it impossible for him to continue believing in her innocence, and his principles won't allow him to defend somebody he knows to be guilty.
** By contrast, Rumpole does attempt plea-bargaining at times in the series; the first "Play for Today" pilot [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness had him advise this right off the bat]], while in subsequent cases he appeared to be willing to do a deal when (and only when) he could get the client out of jail time, which usually meant that the judge was sympathetic (usually a former member of his chambers--particularly Guthrie Featherstone and Phyllida Erskine-Brown).

* ''Film/TheLincolnLawyer'' once pressured a client charged with rape and murder to plead guilty so he'd be sentenced to just 30 years with a chance to obtain a parole after 15 years. That came to bite him hard when he not only learned the client was innocent but he was also defending the actual culprit from an attempted rape charge.

** Which is a bit of a problem in the UK version as plea bargains aren't allowed under English law (although reduced sentances for pleading guilty are standard practice). Charges often get reduced to something more minor for one reason and another -assault with a deadly weapon instead of attempted murder, for example- but that's up to the Crown ''Prosecution'' Service[[note]]sort of like District Attorneys in the US, but on the 'federal' level[[/note]] rather than the accused's defence team.

* Happens all the time on ''Series/TheCloser'' and it's AfterShow, ''MajorCrimes''. One instance of it on ''The Closer'' is notable because it backfired ''spectacularly''. An elderly shopkeeper and his 8-year-old grandson are shot to death by a local gang member, and the police think that they know who it is. They also think that ''another'' gang member witnessed the murder or maybe, at most, was an accomplice. The potential witness is offered an immunity agreement, stating that he won't get charged with anything in exchange for telling them everything he knows, in the hopes that his testimony will be enough to get the other guy. Except it turns out the guy they thought did it was innocent, the "witness" committed the murder himself, and the other guy just happened to come into the shop as the killer was leaving. So basically, they've just let a guy off scot-free for murdering an old man and a child.

->''I was convicted of a crime I did not commit. I plea-bargained down from the one I actually did.''

And it's a pretty good deal for the prosecution too, usually. Sure, they probably could have gotten a conviction, but full trials take time, and money, and tie up attorneys who could be working on the next case. It has been pointed out many times that if a sizable number of defendants suddenly refused to plea bargain, it would cause a collapse of the entire legal system, as the government would be unable to hold trials for them all (some have suggested they do this to protest). In the United States, as much as '''97% of cases are resolved by plea bargaining'''.[[note]]Note that on account of the US' peculiar drug laws, a lot of these are drug cases; evidence tends to be particularly airtight with drug possession -- after all, it's hard (though [[RefugeInAudacity not impossible]], and also [[TooDumbToLive not recommended]]) to say "No, I wasn't carrying any drugs" when the police have the drugs and you before the court -- making trials a waste of everyone's time. Because the facts are usually undisputed, usually the defense might make a few perfunctory motions to see if the drugs can be suppressed for some kind of police misconduct, but that almost inevitably fails, and then begins the bargaining.[[/note]] Note also this can be subject to EaglelandOsmosis. In most civil law nations, it's simply not possible. Even if you plead guilty, they do a full trial to establish how much time you get. In the other [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw common law]] nations, it's officially frowned on and officially doesn't happen. Unofficially, it happens all the time, but it's considered very impolite to suggest it. This has been a huge issue at international tribunals. Depending on conditions in the facility a suspect is held in prior to trial, it could also be seen as [[PerpSweating coercing a confession]].

* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', the first thing Franziska von Karma tells Phoenix at the start of the trial is that he would be pleading "justified self-defense" within the first 10 minutes of the trial. Phoenix is later gave the choice of pleading or not, but the situation is a ButThouMust and he ends up not pleading.

Essentially, the defendant agrees to plead "guilty" to one or more charges, in exchange for a lighter sentence. Often, a lesser charge is agreed to, avoiding a harsher penalty. For example, plea bargaining a felony down to misdemeanor, or an offense that would get the defendant on a "sex offenders" listing down to one that will not. The prosecutor may also ''recommend'' a lighter sentence to the judge, usually within the standard range. For instance, crime A is worth 6-9 months, crime B is worth 18-24 months. The accused was originally charged with crime B, but bargains and pleads guilty to crime A, and in exchange, the prosecutor recommends a sentence of 6 months. The judge may choose to give more, but only up to 9 months. Also note that the acceptance of the plea bargain is entirely dependent on the judge: if he or she feels the plea bargain is a gross miscarriage of justice (if a first-degree murder is pleaded down to manslaughter for example), the plea bargain can be ''rejected''. If this happens, expect the judge to rebuke the prosecution. The other side of the coin is the problem with District Attorneys "front loading" the charges and potential sentences against the defendant to encourage a plea bargain. Many defendants who are either innocent or at least believe they have a reasonable chance at being found not guilty at trial plea bargain out - if crime B is worth 5-10 years jail but a plea bargain is available for crime A that allows for 6-9 months jail many defendants would take the plea even if innocent to avoid the risk of spending 10 years inside.

In some cases, the defendant will be required to testify against other criminals as part of the deal, or to provide other services.

And it's a pretty good deal for the prosecution too, usually. Sure, they probably could have gotten a conviction, but full trials take time, and money, and tie up attorneys who could be working on the next case. It has been pointed out many times that if a sizable number of defendants suddenly refused to plea bargain it would cause a collapse of the entire legal system, as the government would be unable to hold trials for them all (some have suggested they do this to protest). In the United States as much as '''97% of cases are resolved by plea bargaining'''.[[note]]Note that on account of the US' peculiar drug laws, a lot of these are drug cases; evidence tends to be particularly airtight with drug possession--after all, it's hard to say "No I wasn't carrying any drugs" when the police have the drugs and you before the court--making trials a waste of everyone's time. Because the facts are usually undisputed, usually the defense might make a few perfunctory motions to see if the drugs can be suppressed for some kind of police misconduct, but that almost inevitably fails, and then begins the bargaining.[[/note]] Note also this can be subject to EaglelandOsmosis. In most civil law nations it's simply not possible. Even if you plead guilty they do a full trial to establish how much time you get. In the other [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw common law]] nations, it's officially frowned on and officially doesn't happen. Unofficially it happens all the time, but it's considered very impolite to suggest it. This has been a huge issue at international tribunals. Depending on conditions in the facility a suspect is held in prior to trial, it could also be seen as coercing a confession.

* If the client is innocent, an AmoralAttorney--or [[BeleagueredBureaucrat an overworked one]]--may pressure him to do a plea bargain anyway, because the case would be too hard to win, or for less savory reasons.

* The main story is about someone else's trial, and the person who made a plea bargain testifies against them as part of the deal. Naturally, the second defendant's attorney will cast aspersions on the witness' motivations and veracity.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/AFewGoodMen'', LT Dan Kaffee (TomCruise's character) has made a career out of skillful plea bargaining, but he decides not to on this case once he sees the emotional damage it'd do to his clients.

* As seen in the page quote, Buck Wild from MilestoneComics' ''ComicBook/{{Icon}}'' series benefited from one of these.

* If you have read the subverted example where the guy was named "Jon" instead of "Bob", congratulations, you know a little bit about this story. In fact, the reason why I called that example Jon is because this guy's name is Jonathan, aka Jonathan Pollard. Now for the example. It all started when he agreed to the plea agreement in exchange for a shorter sentence. He spied for Israel by the way, aka spying for an ally. That crime gets 2-4 years normally. He was promised 10 years or less. However, they entrapped him by allowing Wolf Blitzer (who had no idea about the entrapment) to interview him. They then used the interview against him by claiming that it was unauthorized. This is confirmed by the fact that Joseph [=DiGenova=], the prosecutor, bragged about it to Robert Friedman of the Village Voice, saying that he hoped that the interviews would be the rope that Pollard would hang himself with. They also claimed that he spied for Apartheid South Africa to turn Judge Aubrey Robinson (who was an African-American and hatred apartheid) against Pollard. They succeeded, and Pollard was sentenced to life in prison. However, 30 years later, on November 20, 2015, he was allowed to be on parole. It is still unjust though, for he is not only still not allowed to go to Israel, where he has been longing and pleading to go to for almost all of his life, despite the fact that Israel has betrayed him, he is forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, which he has to charge daily, that is if he doesn't leave home. If he does, it runs out faster. This means that he is forced to break Shabbat. If you want to know more about this outrageous injustice, go to http://www.jonathanpollard.org

* Creator/RomanPolanski's reasons for escaping from his sexual assault case in the USA hinged on technical details of plea bargaining. Polanski and the prosecutor agreed and submitted a plea bargain where Polanski would not be imprisoned, but the judge threatened not to accept these terms and have him do 90 days.

* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', the first thing Franziska tells Phoenix at the start of the trial is that he would be pleading within the first 10 minutes of the trial. Phoenix is later gave the choice of pleading or not, but the situation is a ButThouMust and he ends up not pleading.

* Despite possibly killing close to a hundred people, serial killer Carl Eugene Watts ("The Sunday Morning Slasher") was nearly released in 2006 due to a plea bargain made at the time of his arrest.

* If you have read the subverted example where the guy was named "Jon" instead of "Bob", congratulations, you know a little bit about this story. In fact, the reason why I called that example Jon is because this guy's name is Jonathan, aka Jonathan Pollard. Now for the example. It all started when he agreed to the plea agreement in exchange for a shorter sentence. He spied for Israel by the way, aka spying for an ally. That crime gets 2-4 years normally. He was promised 10 years or less. However, they entrapped him by allowing Wolfe Blitzer (who had no idea about the entrapment) to interview him. They then used the interview against him by claiming that it was unauthorized. This is confined by the fact that Joseph DiGenova, the prosecutor bragged about it to Robert Friedman of the Village Voice, saying that he hoped that the interviews would be the rope that Pollard would hang himself with. They also claimed that he spied for Apartheid South Africa to turn Judge Aubrey Robinson, who was an African American, and who hatred apartheid, against Pollard. They succeeded, and Pollard was sentenced to life in prison. However, 30 years later, aka November 20, 2015, he was allowed to be on parole. It is still unjust though, for he is not only still not allowed to go to Israel, where he has been longing and pleading to go to for almost all of his life, despite the fact that Israel has betrayed him, he is forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, which he has to charge daily, that is if he doesn't leave home. If he does, it runs out faster. This means that he is forced to break Shabbat. If you want to know more about this outrageous injustice, go to http://www.jonathanpollard.org

And it's a pretty good deal for the prosecution too, usually. Sure, they probably could have gotten a conviction, but full trials take time, and money, and tie up attorneys who could be working on the next case. It has been pointed out many times that if a sizable number of defendants suddenly refused to plea-bargain it would cause a collapse of the legal system, as the government would be unable to hold trials for them all. In the United States as much as '''97% of cases are resolved by plea bargaining'''.[[note]]Note that on account of the US' peculiar drug laws, a lot of these are drug cases; evidence tends to be particularly airtight with drug possession--after all, it's hard to say, "no I wasn't carrying any drugs" when the police have the drugs and you before the court--making trials a waste of everyone's time. Because the facts are usually undisputed, usually the defense might make a few perfunctory motions to see if the drugs can be suppressed for some kind of police misconduct, but that almost inevitably fails, and then begins the bargaining.[[/note]] Note also this can be subject to EaglelandOsmosis. In most civil law nations it's simply not possible. Even if you plead guilty they do a full trial to establish how much time you get. In the other Common Law nations, it's officially frowned on and officially doesn't happen. Unofficially it happens all the time, but it's considered very impolite to suggest it. This has been a huge issue at international tribunals. Depending on conditions in the facility a suspect is held in pre-trial, it could also be seen as coercing a confession.

With the vastly over crowded court system, any case which is NOT settled in a plea bargain is one where either the defense feels there is a very good chance to win or the prosecution feels the crime is so bad and has so much publicity they won't.

* If you have read the subverted example where the guy was named "Jon" instead of "Bob", congratulations, you know a little bit about this story. In fact, the reason why I called that example Jon is because this guy's name is Jonathan, aka Jonathan Pollard. Now for the example. It all started when he agreed to the plea agreement in exchange for a shorter sentence. He spied for Israel by the way, aka spying for an ally. That crime gets 2-4 years normally. He was promised 10 years or less. However, they entrapped him by allowing Wolfe Blitzer (who had no idea about the entrapment) to interview him. They then used the interview against him by claiming that it was unauthorized. This is confined by the fact that Joseph DiGenova, the prosecutor bragged about it to Robert Friedman of the Village Voice, saying that he hoped that the interviews would be the rope that Pollard would hang himself with. They also claimed that he spied for Apartheid outh Africa to get the Judge, who was an African American who, reasonably, hated Apartheid. They succeeded, and Pollard was sentenced to life in prison. However, 30 years later, aka November 20, 2015, he was allowed to be on parole. It is still unjust though, for he is not only still not allowed to go to Israel, where he has been longing and pleading to go to for almost all of his life, despite the fact that Israel has betrayed him, he is forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, which he has to charge daily, that is if he doesn't leave home. If he does, it runs out faster. This means that he is forced to break Shabbat. If you want to know more about this outrageous injustice, go to http://www.jonathanpollard.org

* In the American version of {{Shameless}} Fiona is arrested for child endangerment for accidentally allowing her younger brother Liam to get into some cocaine she had out in the open. Her somewhat overworked lawyer tells her that it would be best to plea bargain, as she's a first time offender, it's a fairly open-and-shut case, and at worst she'd probably only get 1-3 months in jail. Fiona, however, is resistant to plead guilty as the entire affair was an accident, and has to be persuaded to accept the plea deal (she ends up not having to actually serve any time, and is instead given probation).

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': District Attorney Sam Young's reelection campaign in "Eyewitness" had it mentioned that, during his tenure, the District Attorney's office had a decrease in the ratio of plea bargains for violent crimes.

[[/folder]]