>Plea-bargaining is the most odious ingredient to add to the mix,
>making punishment quite arbitrary in practice, in spite of so-called
>minimum sentencing. (Following what is often a form of trial by
>ordeal.) It is no exaggeration to say that you end up with a pre
>Magna Carta justice system, with arbitrary imprisonment at the whim
>of executive government.
Allow me once again to cite The Sopranos, where Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni takes 15 years in a deal with the feds despite the best lawyering money can buy. Of course he's guilty as hell, but still...
Doug