Why I Hate Plea Bargains

I think I can safely say that this is the first time I’ve ever done what I’m doing now. I’m writing my blog while behind the wheel of my car on a highway. I got stuck in the worst traffic jam I’ve ever been in on my way home yesterday, so I decided to start writing my blog from the car. Don’t worry, I was in park. And it’s pretty ironic to be doing this, considering I went to court Wednesday for a moving violation!

Boom, smooth transition!

Kangaroo Court?

I got a ticket in Boulder on June 8 for 61 in a 45, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing that. I won’t get into all the details and bore you, but I’m going to fight this. In this country, you (sort of) have a right to a trial. I at least want to tell my side of the story to the judge. But the court doesn’t want me to. Why do I say that?

First, it’s $25 in court fees if I lose or plead guilty before trial.

I wanted to know the evidence against me, because it wasn’t clear to me how the officer got my speed. The fine on the ticket said $125, but if I go to court and lose, I have to pay $25 in court fees. There was something on the ticket that said bond was $300 so I called and asked if that’s what my fine was going to be if I lost in court. Was I really looking at $325?

— note: I’m not behind the wheel any more … I stopped writing when I took my car out of park —

The woman on the phone told me no, the bond was something different, and it would just be the court fees. It’s worth it to me for a $25 risk, but not for $200. So, I went into court yesterday, thinking it was my day in court, but it was just my arraignment. There were about 15 people in the room going through arraignments. Those of us who didn’t want to plead guilty had to go talk to the prosecutor. Those who were willing to plead guilty couldn’t negotiate the fine. For every single one of them, the judge refused to say what the fine would be and they had to trust him.

I pleaded not guilty and then went and waited to talk to the prosecutor. I got a little bit of the information I essentially paid $25 for, but I got a new sticker shock. If I go forward with my case, the fine is 100% up to the judge and it could be as high as $500. I felt like I had totally been bait-and-switched. I’m really disappointed in the system.

What do you do? At this point, if I went back and pleaded guilty to the judge, the fine is still up to him. It would probably have been $125 plus the $25 in court costs, but nobody from the prosecutor or the judge would assure me of anything until after I cemented in a guilty plea. $150 for something I didn’t do? Or go forward and risk a huge fine? We’re on a budget that’s beyond tight. I decided not to plead guilty because I think there’s enough factors about the facts with my case that there’s a reasonable doubt.

But I don’t like this part of the system, just like on a bigger scale, I don’t like plea bargains in the criminal system. The worst thing that could happen does, like what happened to Brian Banks. He was falsely accused of rape, but faced a sentence of 41 years to life. He accepted a plea deal and took five years instead. But he had a choice to face: Serve 5 years, throw away your NFL dreams and likely all future earning potential while spending your life as a registered sex offender, or go to trial for something you know you didn’t do but face 41 years?

Basically, the system told him if he wanted to go to trial, it was going to tack on 36 years if he didn’t win. Clearly, he didn’t really have a right to a fair trial.

I’m in NO WAY comparing what I’m facing with what he was facing. But, on a much, MUCH smaller scale, I don’t feel like I really have the right to question the allegation against me. If I do, I’m facing a quadrupled fine. But I’m going forward. I have about a half-dozen things that I think bring up reasonable doubt and the system is legitimate, I’ll be fine. If it’s not, I’ll learn the hard way.

On A Brighter Note, …

Best Race Sign Ever

Danielle Sterling, who won the contest I had a couple of weeks ago, is running a marathon Friday. It’s eight laps around a lake that’s whatever 26.2 / 8. I guess that’s three miles and change? Around and around they’ll go. It’ll be deja vu seven times for them. So she made a sign for her husband to hold up for runners that says “Hey look kids! There’s Big Ben! There’s Parliament!” … love it! If you’ve never seen National Lampoon’s European Vacation, here’s the scene:

Here’s the sign:

Anyways, good luck to Danielle. Big Ben! Parliament!

I’ve Been Running

I’m kind of a running fool right now. Nothing else to do while my wife and kids are out in California. I’ve now run 29 days in a row, averaging more than 14.8 miles per day over that span. With 15 this morning, I’m at 71 for the week already since Monday. I’m feeling strong and surprisingly not fatigued. I’m having fun, getting into better shape and feeling like the runner I used to be. Can’t wait to race on September 1 and see if this work pays off. I’ll be tapering and listening to my body. I won’t overtrain or show up not ready.

Well, that’s it for today. Have a great weekend. You ever gotten out of a speeding ticket? Would you run a marathon that’s eight laps of something? Am I going to burn out before my race?