What do you think of the new limits on federal plea bargaining?

I think to be a US Prosecutor is a highly specialized job, and they are quite selective about their hires. I think it is a slap in the face to the hard work of these men and women to say that they were hired for their above average skills and talent, but they are to exercise none of it in a way that offends the mandate coming out of Washington to get tough on crime. I've seen some of the current sentences, I thought they were pretty tough.

As one writer put it, it is an attempt to centralize power in a system that is responsive to regional influences. The jury is the final equalizer in all situations.

Presumably Ashcroft speaks for the President, and US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President, but how will these new guidelines really be enforced? Will US Attorneys really start to lose their jobs because their assistants find the need to plea bargain "too often"? It is one thing to say: "In virtually all cases, prosecutors must bring the toughest charges available, yielding the toughest penalties under the sentencing guidelines." It is quite another to know when one of the six exceptions justify something different.

In any event, plea bargaining in Texas is completely divorced from similar policies by virtue of art. 37.07, sec. 2(b)CCP. We obviously have to take into account the likely perception of our local juries as to the seriousness of the offense, not just some sentencing guideline.

The execeptions provided by Ashcroft really aren't all that restrictive. They seem to raise the sorts of situations that we would typically see in state court and rely upon for pursuing a plea agreement.

You mean a media report might be exaggerated?

I am shocked. (Of course, after reading the latest Prosecutor maybe I shouldn't be.)