Fact bargaining is a type of plea bargaining that occurs when prosecutors and defendants bargain over what version of events should be stipulated to by the parties and presented to the court as what happened. Some statutes or sentencing guidelines specify that certain increases or decreases in the sentencing range must occur if certain facts are proven. For example, a drug offense may carry a mandatory minimum sentence if the offender had a prior drug felony, possessed a certain amount of drugs or played a supervisory role in a drug conspiracy. The prosecutor may agree to stipulate that there was no such prior drug felony, that the offense less than the threshold amount of drugs, or that the offender played no such supervisory role in exchange for a guilty plea. Fact bargaining can also involve the defendant stipulating to certain facts in exchange for certain concessions so the prosecutor does not need to prove those facts.
Nancy King has argued that fact bargaining defeats the intention of the sentencing guidelines to have judges find facts.[1] According to William G. Young, fact bargaining "involves a fraud on the court as the government's recital of material facts during the plea colloquy and at sentencing necessarily must omit or at minimum gloss over facts material to sentencing. . . . . If fact bargaining is acceptable, then the entire moral and intellectual basis for the Sentencing Guidelines is rendered essentially meaningless."[2] Judges rarely overturn stipulations reached by fact bargaining.[3]
In some cases, "creative" plea bargains are reached in which the defendant pleads guilty to a totally different lesser crime. An example would be a robbery suspect pleading guilty to copyright violation.[4]
Referencesedit
^. Archived from the original on 2011-03-05. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
^"Berthoff v. United States, 140 F. Supp. 2d 50 (D. Mass. 2001)".
^United States v. Pimentel, 932 F2d 1029, 1033 (2d Cir. 1991).
^Clouse, Thomas (May 1, 2006). "Man pleads guilty to bogus crime". The Spokesman-Review. p. A1. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
January 01, 1970
fact, bargaining, type, plea, bargaining, that, occurs, when, prosecutors, defendants, bargain, over, what, version, events, should, stipulated, parties, presented, court, what, happened, some, statutes, sentencing, guidelines, specify, that, certain, increase. Fact bargaining is a type of plea bargaining that occurs when prosecutors and defendants bargain over what version of events should be stipulated to by the parties and presented to the court as what happened Some statutes or sentencing guidelines specify that certain increases or decreases in the sentencing range must occur if certain facts are proven For example a drug offense may carry a mandatory minimum sentence if the offender had a prior drug felony possessed a certain amount of drugs or played a supervisory role in a drug conspiracy The prosecutor may agree to stipulate that there was no such prior drug felony that the offense less than the threshold amount of drugs or that the offender played no such supervisory role in exchange for a guilty plea Fact bargaining can also involve the defendant stipulating to certain facts in exchange for certain concessions so the prosecutor does not need to prove those facts Nancy King has argued that fact bargaining defeats the intention of the sentencing guidelines to have judges find facts 1 According to William G Young fact bargaining involves a fraud on the court as the government s recital of material facts during the plea colloquy and at sentencing necessarily must omit or at minimum gloss over facts material to sentencing If fact bargaining is acceptable then the entire moral and intellectual basis for the Sentencing Guidelines is rendered essentially meaningless 2 Judges rarely overturn stipulations reached by fact bargaining 3 In some cases creative plea bargains are reached in which the defendant pleads guilty to a totally different lesser crime An example would be a robbery suspect pleading guilty to copyright violation 4 References edit Time for crime Who decides Archived from the original on 2011 03 05 Retrieved 2010 07 12 Berthoff v United States 140 F Supp 2d 50 D Mass 2001 United States v Pimentel 932 F2d 1029 1033 2d Cir 1991 Clouse Thomas May 1 2006 Man pleads guilty to bogus crime The Spokesman Review p A1 Retrieved September 23 2014 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fact bargaining amp oldid 1106139764, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
