Wrongful Plea Bargaining

“People Buy Certainty”

The hope for this paper is to provide a resource for those facing criminal charges,
specifically where they are facing a situation where they are facing a number of charges that
many not have any basis in reality. This process started with a review of existing material on the
topic Plea Bargaining and the intimately connected issue of Overcharging. Initially it was the
plan to research and write a paper related to the state of these practices, plans that have been
enacted or actions taken to contend with these issues as well as any thoughts about possible
solutions. As it turns out, there has been a significant amount of research and writing already
conducted on all of these issues. Despite this, it became very clear that there was one area of
study that had been overlooked, specifically how the issues of Plea Bargaining and Overcharging
are dealt with today. Given the fact that these issues are the reality that we currently live with,
how do lawyers contend with a situation where their client has been overcharged and is being
pushed toward a plea bargain.

 

To read the full article, please see the attachment below:

Article.MicahElson.Overcharging.PleaBargaining

 

References used in this article:

  1. https://www.buting.com/blog/2020/02/three-ways-prosecutors-use-coercion-in-plea-bargaining/
  2. https://www.cato.org/commentary/prisons-are-packed-because-prosecutors-are-coercing-plea-deals-yes-its-totally-legal#
  3. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/325824-schuelke-report.html
  4. https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vol61/iss1/2/?utm_source=scholarship.law.edu%2Flawreview%2Fvol61%2Fiss1%2F2&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
  5. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/ilp-pji/pb-rpc/pb-rpc.pdf
  6. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/ilp-pji/pb-rpc/pb5-rpc5.html
  7. http://aspercentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/R-v-Nixon-Intervener-Factum-AG-Manitoba.pdf
  8. http://www.lareau-law.ca/LRCWP60.pdf
  9. https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/why-plea-bargains-can-be-a-deal-with-the-devil/270371
  10. https://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-sfpg/fps-sfp/tpd/p3/ch07.html
  11. https://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/fpsd-sfpg/fps-sfp/tpd/p3/ch07.html

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