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Nothing to hide...

Greg Borges' anger is appropriate. Federal prosecutors are far worse than state prosecutors because federal prosecutors' power is virtually unlimited. State prosecutors actually have to prove cases in trials from time to time. Fewer than 5 percent of federal charges are tested in court. About one in four state cases go before a jury.

Frankly, I don't understand why trial lawyers across America aren't taking to the streets to protest the perversion of the "justice system" and the assault on the Constitution. Well, actually I do understand...there's good money in representing all the folks getting rolled up in the various law enforcement crusades...and, as another poster noted, defense lawyers must toady to prosecutors because prosecutors have the power to make their jobs more difficult.

Falsely convicted citizens typically don't complain because of another sinister aspect of the system: the extortion clause in all plea deals...citizens once convicted must pretend they were guilty as accused, regardless of whether they actually were. If they don't pretend, the prosecutor can revoke terms of the plea deal and pursue whatever draconian punishment was avoided by taking the deal.

That power is based in the reality that negotiating a plea deal typically costs from $25,000 to $40,000 for legal fees. Going to trial typically costs upwards of $200,000...and going to trial typically means facing dozens or scores of additional charges, which further complicate the defense and thus drive up legal costs. The government can spend whatever it needs to to put you away. And if it happens to you, who are you going to complain to? Not politicians, they can't get elected if an opponent tags them as soft on crime. Not inspector generals in state or federal government; they're on the team. Not the newspaper (unless you're famous enough to merit a headline)...and newspaper cop/court reporters typically toady to cops and prosecutors and print their news releases mostly unchanged. Otherwise they'd lose access. Not judges; more and more, with appointments growing increasingly more political year after year. They're on the team, too.

Face it folks: Put all this together with the erosion of the Bill of Rights and we're fast becoming a police state.

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