Plea Bargains

Plea Bargains

Imagine a convicted murderer sitting next to you in a movie theater. It may sound crazy, but it very easily could be a reality. It could happen due to a plea bargain. In almost all cases, a plea bargain is offered to the defendant by the prosecutor in exchange for a guilty plea. Today more than 90 percent of criminal convictions end in a plea of guilty. The murderer sitting next to you in the theater could have spent life in prison, but due to accepting a plea bargain he or she was given a more lenient sentence. As bad as it sounds that is the reality of plea bargains today. That's just one look at it however. Imagine your co-worker who you have known for 20 years was being convicted of murder and pled not guilty because she did not commit the crime. If there weren't plea bargains she could spend life in prison for being falsely accused. Plea bargains have both good and bad influences on society, and where we draw limitations is difficult to determine.

The stories of Erma Faye Stewart, Regina Kelly, Charles Gampero, Kelly Jarrett, and Kerry Cook were discussed on a television documentary, called Frontline, about the life of accepting or denying a plea bargain. After watching the video I was so disgusted in the criminal justice system. I was also shocked because I didn't realize this type of "justice" was being served in our system today. One case where I felt the defendant was wrongfully convicted was the case of Kelly Jarrett. In 1973, Kelly Jarrett and a friend of hers, known as Billy Ronald Kelly, drove to Utica, New York for a summer-long vacation. Three years later police showed up at Jarrett's door and arrested her for a robbery that occurred in Utica, New York, in 1973. She learned later that while she was in Utica, New York, her friend Billy Kelly had robbed a gas station that ended in the murder of a 17-year-old gas station attendant. Fingerprints were found all over the crime scene and the evidence against Billy Kelly was massive enough to convict him with robbery and murder. There was a statement from an elderly witness who said they saw a car at the time of the crime with someone inside it. The witness didn't know, however, whether it was a man or a woman in the vehicle, so the evidence against Jarrett was very weak. After hearing about her case I was certain she was going to be released of all charges because the prosecution didn't seem to have sufficient evidence or any reasonable doubt to convict her of having any part of this crime. Jarrett was offered a plea of five to fifteen years if she would plead guilty to just the robbery, not the murder. If she were to take the plea of five to fifteen years that meant she could possibly, with good behavior, be paroled in five years. If she wasn't going to accept the plea, more than likely she was going to be sent to prison for a lot longer of a sentence. I was so angry and frustrated that she was given the option of the plea bargain when the only evidence the court had was from the witness and they didn't even know if it was a man or a woman in the vehicle at the scene of the crime. This case raises a huge concern on the type and amount of evidence a court should obtain to be able to convict someone of such harsh penalties. Kelly Jarrett did not take the plea and was convicted to twenty-five years to life in prison because she told her attorney she couldn't plead guilty to a crime she didn't commit. She told Frontline, "I believed in the American system of justice. I really believed that you just tell the truth and the judge and jury will hear you and nothing will happen