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I was in court last week for a three dem points offense. The prosecutor offered everyone a plea of guilty with a lesser fine and no points. Almost 90% of them took the guilty plea.

For those who didn't agree to the plea bargain, they called them out after sometime and had the police officer "work" (the police officer's own words) on them. Some of those eventually agreed to plea guilty.

Two guys were not willing to plea guilty, the officer wouldn't stop talking to them in the hallway. This officer had about 50 cases of the same offense in the same location for that afternoon. You know what? After all these talk, the two who didn't accept the guilty plea was processed last in the court room. (when everyone has left). And when it was their turn, the officer dropped the charges based on "no evidence against the defendent". How manipulative, he just convicted 40 other people with "no evidence". Kudos to these last two guys who stuck it out.

Moral of the story, don't plea guilty to a lesser charge. If they tried to bargain with you, you are the one who stands to win. Its better to go away free then be coned into paying $60 and thinking you've saved money.

By the way, PM me if you want to know the specific location, offense, or the officer's name.

bluetent wrote:By the way, PM me if you want to know the specific location, offense, or the officer's name.

It does pay to stick it out.

Also, feel free to post here everything but the officer's name.

The two defendants who refused to take the plea bargain had likely done their research and realized that they'd either been charged with the wrong offence, or the officer's notes were terrible. There are plenty of situations where plea-bargaining would be a good idea. It doesn't sound like this was one of them, however. I will say that most people show up in court completely unprepared.

Of course the officer managed to waste what sounds like the entire day of the two people that refused to plea guilty. Was it such a great deal for them to have to wait around all day to save the $60? Time is money too. Some of the stuff that goes on is just amazing though. I have a toronto criminal lawyer friend that is full of good stories.

Edited for advertising.. Reflections.

Lex87 wrote: Was it such a great deal for them to have to wait around all day to save the $60?

I can't wait to hear the responses to that one.

It's not really about the $60, its about the conviction.

Money is also money, at the risk of stating the obvious.

Conviction = $60. Okay, fine. How much more will you pay in insurance? Does their insurance company forgive one ticket, or stick it to them? Some of them will jack rates up by $500 per year for one ticket, and that sticks for three years. So the guy might've saved $1500 by sticking around. You never know. There's also no way to know what kind of work schedule someone has. They might've had no problem arranging the day off.