Over 90 percent of the people that are convicted of felonies give up the right to be judged by a jury of his or her peers once they proceed to plead guilty. In the majority of the cases, these people plead guilty for something in exchange. Plea bargaining is an arrangement between a prosecutor and a defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in the expectation of a lesser punishment. This casually happens when the defendant sees no other option by the prosecutor, but to plead guilty. This is very important because it is a necessary component in the criminal justice system, if it wasn’t for plea bargains, courts would be overcrowded and overwhelmed that they would be actually be forced to shut down. Plea bargains are so
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Paul Nugent, was the defense attorney that represented Kerry Max Cook. Kerry Max Cook was a young kid was arrested in 1977 and charged with the brutal murder and rape of 21-year old Linda Jo Edwards. Kerry was actually tried one year later after being arrested. One major thing that negatively impacted Kerry was the fact that he was allegedly homosexual, which back then was one of the biggest sins in the east side of Texas. Cook was convicted and sentenced to death, he spent years on death row where he was abused and raped. This led him to try to commit suicide, but he was saved. Instead of being seen as an act of desperation, it was seen as a killer who lost his mind. After years of being incarcerated, that's when Nugent became his lawyer. That's when the lawyer made a new trial happen, which once again, ruled Kerry guilty. In 1996, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction due to the conduct of both the police and the prosecution from the first trial. A critique was published detailing how the investigation was misleading intentionally and how the conviction was obtained through fraud and in violation of the law. According to Nugent, the problem in this case wasn’t that there was police misconduct, in fact, it was systematic misconduct. Nugent couldn't believe how out of nowhere the district attorney’s assistant wanted to offer his client a plea bargain, after
Paul Nugent, was the defense attorney that represented Kerry Max Cook. Kerry Max Cook was a young kid was arrested in 1977 and charged with the brutal murder and rape of 21-year old Linda Jo Edwards. Kerry was actually tried one year later after being arrested. One major thing that negatively impacted Kerry was the fact that he was allegedly homosexual, which back then was one of the biggest sins in the east side of Texas. Cook was convicted and sentenced to death, he spent years on death row where he was abused and raped. This led him to try to commit suicide, but he was saved. Instead of being seen as an act of desperation, it was seen as a killer who lost his mind. After years of being incarcerated, that's when Nugent became his lawyer. That's when the lawyer made a new trial happen, which once again, ruled Kerry guilty. In 1996, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction due to the conduct of both the police and the prosecution from the first trial. A critique was published detailing how the investigation was misleading intentionally and how the conviction was obtained through fraud and in violation of the law. According to Nugent, the problem in this case wasn’t that there was police misconduct, in fact, it was systematic misconduct. Nugent couldn't believe how out of nowhere the district attorney’s assistant wanted to offer his client a plea bargain, after