Defense counsels started to feel that defendants will not be able to pay for the time involved to go to trial, but the prosecutors feel even though they work harder at a trial they are not having to decide on a sentence in a plea bargain. The judges now have the burden to determine and announce all sentences to defendants. The ban on plea bargaining did not affect the sentences of violent crime charges, but it did drastically change the sentences of Felony 3 guilty outcomes. The defendants convicted of burglary, larceny and destruction of property found themselves receiving longer sentences. These crimes were receiving 53% longer sentences instead of being plea bargained to save the courts for the more violent crimes. In the crimes of fraud and embezzlement sentence terms increased 117%; in drug felonies it was 233%. The defendants who were convicted of minor charges were hit the heaviest with the ban. Many who would have normally received a short sentence or probation, now received a jail
Defense counsels started to feel that defendants will not be able to pay for the time involved to go to trial, but the prosecutors feel even though they work harder at a trial they are not having to decide on a sentence in a plea bargain. The judges now have the burden to determine and announce all sentences to defendants. The ban on plea bargaining did not affect the sentences of violent crime charges, but it did drastically change the sentences of Felony 3 guilty outcomes. The defendants convicted of burglary, larceny and destruction of property found themselves receiving longer sentences. These crimes were receiving 53% longer sentences instead of being plea bargained to save the courts for the more violent crimes. In the crimes of fraud and embezzlement sentence terms increased 117%; in drug felonies it was 233%. The defendants who were convicted of minor charges were hit the heaviest with the ban. Many who would have normally received a short sentence or probation, now received a jail