The Scales of Justice

Are not tipped in your favor!

The average US citizen is woefully ignorant when the moment strikes and he or she finds themselves indicted by the federal government. I was that average guy, and wow! Did I get a lesson or what?!?!

Plea bargains aren’t just a dime a dozen in the federal system. They’re more like a penny a dozen. Here’s a startling fact: Fully 97% of federal indictments are pled out! That’s right! If the government indicts 100 people, it somehow manages to convince 97 of them to take a plea deal.

How do they do that? By offering the defendant a deal he can’t refuse! That’s how. Is that because it’s a good deal — or more like a deal he’ll surely regret not taking if he chooses that option?

Take my case for example. I could accept three counts of tax fraud, lose 2/3rds of my life savings, and face 3 years behind bars if I took my deal. I would also have to teach a course in Escort Economics 101 to my DA and a host of other government employees who worked at Homeland Security, the NYPD, the State Department, and the IRS. Teaching that course would cost me tens of thousands of dollars while my $500/hour lawyer sat watching. (His attendance was required.) Sounds dire, I know. Consider the alternative.

I could plead “not guilty” and be charged with not just tax fraud — but structuring, and money-laundering. If convicted, I could serve 5 years or more! If I won, I’d only lose 20% of my life savings — as opposed to 65% — and not go to prison. Whether I won or not, the lawyers would bill me at least 250k! Did I have a chance of winning?

Hmm! Of the 3 in 100 who go to trial, only 10% of them are found not guilty. Doing the math, here’s how it works out: Three out of every thousand defendants gets off in the federal system. I didn’t like the odds. So I took the deal!

In fact, when I did go to prison, I met pre-trial defendants who were planning on going to trial. But they were all indigent inmates with cost-free public defenders — and a righteous entitlement not born of their innocence. Which is to say they were just stupid. No shortage of guys like that in federal prison.

When it was all over, I lost the 65%, plus the state tax bill, plus over 100k to my lawyers — and served a year. I was lucky. What was left over is enough for me to do nothing for the rest of my life save sit back and live off my interest and dividends.

But not everybody is as fortunate as I. The system is set up so that once an American is indicted, his or her chances of effectively fending off a marauding AUSA are minimal. And very expensive. As a result, it’s an oppressive system that can unduly punish those who fall in its crosshairs.

I was not an innocent guy. Which is part of the reason I took the deal. But for somebody who is? It’s a rough row to hoe defending yourself in the federal system. And you’d better get ready to bend over for the man if it happens. When the judge says “in the case of the United States of America versus insert your name,” you get the feeling you’re not in for a fair fight. You get the idea.

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