By almost any measure, the federal prosecutor's wielded too much power. Many federal laws govern similar behavior and are written broadly, prosecutor's commonly have multiple charges from which to chose. This means they typically have many sentencing ranges to chose from as well. Thus, they can--and do--threaten defendants who want to exercise their trial rights with charges that will carry longer sentences than the charges will file if defendants who refuse to waive their rights to a jury trial receive a sentence three times longer than who pled. And with the prevalence of mandatory minimum laws, a prosecutor's charging decisions often dictate a sentence that a judge is powerless to avoid. It is no wonder 97 percent of federal convictions
