By District Attorney Ryan Sayers
2023 Vol. 6
This week we are going to start the deep dive into plea agreements and why they are a necessary part of the criminal justice system.
As was stated last week, approximately 95 percent of criminal cases in the United States are resolved via guilty pleas, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and there are a multitude of reasons for such a statistic.
First thing I should explain is: what is a plea agreement? This is where the defendant admits that he or she is guilty of the crimes agreed to in the plea agreement and the defendant accepts responsibility for his or her actions.
The defendant agrees to either probation or a period of time in jail. Additionally, the defendant has to pay restitution to victims, fines and court costs.
The primary reason that plea agreements are part of the criminal justice system is the changing burden of proof throughout the process.
In order for a police officer to get charges through a preliminary hearing, the officer only needs sufficient evidence to prove that a reasonable person would believe that a crime has been committed and that the individual being arrested committed that crime.
However, in order for a jury of 12 people to find a defendant guilty, the prosecuting attorney needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed by the defendant, which is the highest standard of proof in the U.S. legal system.
Generally, the public hears about a case from what is reported in the media, which is based almost solely on the information contained in the criminal complaint.
However, most criminal cases are much deeper and way more complex than the few paragraphs of an affidavit.
Therefore, federal and state prosecutors all across the country have to look at cases and decide what they can and cannot prove to a jury within the bounds of the law, as well as the rules of evidence and rules of criminal procedure.
Sometimes that means the prosecution offers lesser or different charges as part of plea agreement.
Next week, I will continue discussing plea agreements and the thought process generally used by prosecutors when making these decisions.
Ryan Sayers is the elected District Attorney of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.
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