Legal News

Are Too Many Defendants Pressured Into Pleading Guilty?

By Ashby Jones

Lost in the shuffle of federal judge Cormac Carney’s surprising recent ruling in the Broadcom backdating criminal trial (here, here, and here) was this: that he actually voided a guilty plea. Even the busiest criminal defense lawyers can go years without seeing that happen.

Fortunately, WSJ reporters John Emshwiller and Nathan Koppel over the weekend explored that facet of the case, concluding that it “again raises questions about plea bargains, one of the most important and controversial aspects of the justice system.”

The quick recap: Judge Carney (pictured) dismissed the criminal complaint charging former Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli with lying to the SEC during its investigation of whether Broadcom misstated its earnings by improperly backdating stock options. Judge Carney’s dismissal came even though Samueli had stood before him in 2008 and pleaded guilty to that very crime.

Emshwiller and Koppel report, however, that Samueli did what lawyers and legal scholars fear a disturbing number of other people have done: pleaded guilty to a crime either they didn’t commit or at least believed they didn’t commit. Defendants often end up choosing that route because they fear getting stuck with a long prison sentence if they go to trial and lose.

So how does Samueli’s attorney, McDermott Will’s Gordon Greenberg, explain the plea? “The government put incredible pressure on” Samueli, said Greenberg, adding that Samueli signed the plea agreement believing he may have violated the law, but that belief was based on the prosecutors’ distortion of the evidence.

One reason for false pleas is that potential prison sentences, particularly on the federal level, have increased for many crimes, including those of the white-collar variety. This has helped put more power into the hands of prosecutors, who decide what charges and how many counts to levy against a defendant.

To be sure, it is widely agreed that the vast majority of those who pleaded are in fact guilty. And plea bargains are an essential part of the system, accounting for some 95% of all federal convictions, according to the most recent statistics.

“If every defendant in every county jail got off the chow line this morning and decided he or she wanted a jury trial, the system would implode,” said Brice Wice, a Houston criminal-defense lawyer who specializes in handling appeals. That said, added Wice, it is defense lawyers, rather than prosecutors, who exert pressure to sign guilty pleas. “They tell their clients, take this or you’ll get life.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 21, 2009 (boomark / email).