Plea deals possible for 'appropriate' Capitol riot cases, prosecutor says

[catbyte]

This is the first public indication from the U.S. Attorney's Office they may seek to avoid trial in some cases.

Eric Flack, Erin Spaht, Stephanie Wilson
Published: 4:33 PM EST March 11, 2021
Updated: 5:55 PM EST March 11, 2021


WASHINGTON — More than 300 different defendants are facing criminal charges for taking part in the Capitol riot. Now, for the first time, federal prosecutors are publicly acknowledging they will look to strike plea bargains and avoid trail with some of the accused.

A plea bargain is an agreement in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors dropping or reducing charges or recommending a lighter sentence to the judge.

On Thursday, during the arraignment for Capitol riot suspect Couy Griffin, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jason Feldman offered the first concrete evidence plea deals are coming for certain Capitol riot defendants.

“We’ve been told that we will reach a point in these Capitol riot cases that we will able to offer pleas in appropriate cases,” Feldman told U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden.

Feldman was responding to a comment from Griffin’s attorney, David Smith, that they had asked prosecutors for a plea deal but haven’t been offered one yet. Griffin pleaded not guilty to two criminal charges: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry and disorderly conduct.

WUSA article

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[dem4decades]

1. John Flannery on Ari's show made the point that these prosecutors are looking to flip people.

As he said, the prosecutor would say, we have a bus, you can either be on the bus, or under the bus. Whe do you want to be?

I would think at least some of these guys they have don't want to spend 20 years under the bus.

[bluestarone]

2. Only for this IF

We get ALL the big wigs!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. The vast majorities of crimes result in plea deals.