As you allude, though, it's a terrible system. The DA deliberately files charges one or two tiers higher than needed as a scare tactic to encourage defendants to plea out.
The motivation seems mostly to keep the number of actual trials down to match the capacity of the overall system. And it's one of the reasons (there are others) that our incarceration percentage is higher than anyone else's.
The deal is in writing.
As you allude, though, it's a terrible system. The DA deliberately files charges one or two tiers higher than needed as a scare tactic to encourage defendants to plea out.
The motivation seems mostly to keep the number of actual trials down to match the capacity of the overall system. And it's one of the reasons (there are others) that our incarceration percentage is higher than anyone else's.