How is plea bargaining unconstitutional

McCarthy v. United States 39 4 U. Courts treat plea bargains as contracts between prosecutors and defendants. A defendant breaking a plea bargain is akin to a breach of contract , which will result in the prosecutor no longer being bound by his or her obligation in the plea deal.

If a prosecutor reneges on plea bargains, defendants may seek relief from the judge. The judge might let the defendant withdraw the guilty pleas, may force the prosecutor to follow the plea bargain, or may apply some other remedy.

Please help us improve our site! No thank you. LII Wex Plea bargain. Supreme court cases that have been filed by the ACLU. Our work with law and policy makers to ensure necessary statutes exist to protect our civil rights. Do you know your rights? Keep them close at hand with these easy-to-use resources. In-depth resources and analysis on our most pressing civil liberties issues. In , George Alvarez was charged with assaulting a prison guard while awaiting trial on public intoxication.

Little did he know that the government had a video proving his innocence, but they buried it long enough for prosecutors to extract the plea first. George spent almost four years behind bars fighting for his innocence before finally being exonerated. In , Lavette Mayes got in a fight with her mother-in-law. Unable to pay, she spent fourteen months in jail awaiting trial, unable to see or touch her children once.

She lost her job. She developed health problems. So instead of spending years fighting her case in failing health, she pled guilty to end the ordeal. Just last year, the state of Georgia executed Ray Cromartie for a murder. The case against him was paper thin and Cromartie maintained his innocence until the end, but Georgia denied every request for DNA testing that could have set the record straight. A lesser-known fact about the case is that 20 years ago, Georgia prosecutors offered Cromartie a plea deal under which he could have been paroled after seven years and free by now.

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