Yet Another Case of Overzealous Prosecution
By Anthony Gregory • Monday April 16, 2012 11:24 AM PDT • 21 Comments
Radley Balko has a great roundup of bloggers’ reactions to the Zimmerman indictment. The common thrust in most of these responses is that the prosecution has gone too far, based on the available evidence it promises to show, to pursue second-degree murder charges.
No doubt the media frenzy brought about this prosecution in the first place. One thing to keep in mind through all this is that a prosecutor’s tendency to over-charge a defendant does not only occur in such high-profile cases. To the contrary, it is completely common. While here the purpose might be to garner the support of the public in a well-known case, usually the purpose is quite different: to ensure the conviction of the defendant.
In 95% of felony convictions in the United States, the result comes from a plea bargain. There is no trial. In order to secure guilty verdicts, the prosecution almost always over-charges, layering one charge upon another to make the risk of conviction at trial far too high for a defendant to accept. The prosecutor, the most powerful official in the law enforcement system, will typically threaten a defendant with 30 years of prison, for example, if he dares to take his case to the courtroom. This guarantees a plea that results in a few years of imprisonment.
This is a major source of prison overcrowding. Only a tiny minority of inmates ever had their day in court, because instead of being charged with what the prosecution thinks is fair, throwing the fate of the defendant to the chance he’ll be acquitted, the prosecutor often does a simple calculus: If he wants the suspect in prison for two years, he’ll find a way to charge him with enough accusations so that a conviction will lead to fifteen. And so he gets the two.
There is virtually no justice in the American criminal justice system. If there is a silver lining in the horrific Zimmerman-Martin affair, it will be to give one more famous example of this important truth.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Criminal Justice, Law, Liberty 
Anthony,
While it is true that prosecutors do indeed overcharge and often over-zealously pursue conviction, I do wonder though if people are willing to plead guilty could is also be that they actually committed the crimes they admitted to?
Are you suggesting the the 95% who do not go to trial do so, because they are innocent? It seems that encouraging the guilty to admit it, is also a cost saving factor in society. I see the Zimmerman case as a poor example for this issue. He clearly did kill someone, and the court system need to processes this case. Simply letting him walk away without consequences does not serve justice.
Better would be to look at the enormous volume of petty drug users who are the true cause of overcrowding in the US.
Frank | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Frank, What exactly did you say? Your spelling and sentence structure are horrific. How can you expect to be taken seriously if you sound illiterate?
Miz L | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Many times people plead guilty to lesser charges due to coercion and imtimidation on the prosecution side. They are told they will go to prison for longer if they don’t plead or they will be charged with an even more serious crime.
Linda | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
More people should go to trial, make them prove the prosecution prove their case.
Linda | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
I meant to say make the prosecution prove their case.
Linda | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
It is not a question of guilt with the prosecution, they couldn’t care less. I am retired from the Federal Prison system and can tell you that few inmate arrived serving time for the actual crime commited and some few were deffinatly railroaded be prosecution and judges. The other side of the plea bargin is the criminal who gets a sentence at the top ot what the law allows because they did not take a plea bargin deal. Its a screwed up situation that has taken our leagl princibles and thrown them out the window for some bureaucratic BS of how high a % of “wins” the prosecutiong attorny gets.
Highlander | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
The only thing that we, the general public, truly know for certainty in this case is that Zimmerman shot Martin. The media lied, covered up and basically altered information before releasing it to us to intentionally incite racial tensions! Since when is a Latino (Mexican) called white? It would not cause racial tensions if the media called him Latino or Mexican .... so he is now a white person, now it is a racial incident.
The reason for the original article was to bring to light how many people are being skirted from courtroom justice by prosecutors and the system in general to raise the stakes up unbelievably high almost forcing a plea bargain. This activity circumvents the entire legal system by creating one man who decides what the penalty should be, the prosecutor.
Mike | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
As someone who is all too familiar with this tactic by D.A.’s and prosecuters I can say without any doubt in my mind that most people who suffer through all of the runaround at the begining of a case will almost always take the plea because the lack of trust for a fair and just trial is deeply rooted in thier minds. It is strong arm tactics meant to improve the records of prosecuters who seek higher office and use the record to rangle support of special interest groups. They will put such fear in you that you will take the plea just to be done with the whole process.
The Zimmerman trial will go on for at least two years and in the end when the media dies down they will take a plea then the “Wrongful Death Suit” will begin. It is a damn shame and the root of whats wrong with this country.
Chris | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
you can’t trust a jury to find you innocent if you are because most don’t understand the law at all and the prosecution will convince them to find you guilty of a law that does not exist and by proxy, find you guilty of one that you are not guilty of.
http://paulboylan.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/i-lost-and-it-bothers-me/
this is just a small example of one that is shown out of the thousands that are not shown to keep the public ignorant of it.
anonymous | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
It would seem that being innocent or guilty doesn’t matter in the least. The past of the criminal cannot be admitted as evidence & he/she is held up as some type of hero. The law-abiding citizen who is defending their home & property or whatever is crucified in the media, regardless. Many attorneys & judges, not all, perpetuate this problem by how they conduct themselves in court. As long as there is money made & SOMEONE, ANYONE regardless of innocence or guilt goes to jail, they won. But someone always looses.
Rebekah | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Sorry but your wrong....Yes, most people in the USA do not call Hispanics whites especially if they do not have an accent but over 75% of Hispanics consider themselves white, especially in Florida where you have a large Hispanic population that are not Mexican (Cuban, Puerto Rican, South American). Most of the Hispanics that come here illegal or really mixed Native Americans with a darker skin; most that come here legally or descendants from Spain. Last time I checked Spain was in Europe. That is why now when you fill out a government form, it ask what race are you....then it ask are you Hispanic or not. Also, George Zimmerman’s father was Jewish, also white. I will give this to you, yes the media did take advantage of the situation and used race to hype of their coverage but do you really, really believe this would have happened to a white guy? I mean do you really?
Terry | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Yes, someone lost. A 17 year old kid lost his life. If George Zimmerman was protecting his home and his life then, I should be able to shoot any white person with a rebel flag. Rebel flags scared me.
Terry | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Frank it sounds like you there only one who gets it.
Terry | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
the fact of the matter is....zimmerman killed this poor kid and he should go to jail...end of story
joane | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Frank, did you just state that anybody that kills someone for any reason needs to be charged with a crime in court? Because, thank our founding fathers, that’s not how the justice system works in the USA.
Terry | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
That’s easy for you to say. What would you do if you could take one year or roll the dice for 20 years?
Terry | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Frank, Grammatical errors aside, I understood completely the point you were making.
Jim | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Look at OJ he walked and was totally GUILTY, and Zimmerman was doing his “JOB”........just sayin!!! And really if ANYBODY thinks OJ didn’t do it you are a complete and total IDIOT!!!
Joe | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
@Miz L
You do not have to capitalize the first letter of a word following a comma. You may want to correct that if people are to take you seriously.
Matt | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
Keep in mind that, unless you have enough money to afford a real lawyer, you are going to be stuck with a “Public Defender” whose job description might as well be “Plead these suckers out and get on to the next one.”
Messianic Theonomist | Apr 17, 2012 | Reply
I agree.
Debbe | Aug 23, 2012 | Reply