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A comment on Edward Snowden wants to come home but says U.S. won’t give him a fair trial. Parent comment

Re:Edward Snowden wants to come home but says U.S. won’t giv... by travmatt on Tuesday September 17, 2019 @02:32AM (#20992269)
Except for the fact that most criminal prosecutions in America are settled through plea bargaining, not trial - isn’t that correct? So to be accurate, the prosecutors decide most of the ‘justice’ in America - judges and juries play no part in plea agreements. Thomas Drake was able to escape the prosecutors also playing judge because he was able to afford representation, and his funds outlasted the pressure the prosecution was able to bring against him. According to your argument, his great victory was only trading his life’s earning for his freedom, instead of forfeiting both for attempting to be an ethical man. It’s pretty obvious that any prosecution of Snowden would aim to forfeit both his freedom and life earning’s, irregardless of the crimes they actually believe he committed.
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Re:Edward Snowden wants to come home but says U.S. won’t giv... by dragontamer on Tuesday September 17, 2019 @03:02AM (#20992437)
> Except for the fact that most criminal prosecutions in America are settled through plea bargaining

I dunno why you're talking about "most criminal prosecutions" now, after you brought up the specific case of Thomas Drake (of which almost all charges were dropped). You can only move the goalposts so far before it gets annoying (especially since the parent post is talking about full on conspiracy-level "secret courts").

In any case, the plea bargain is 100% based on what the defense and the prosecution believe that a Jury would rule. It all comes down to the jury at the end. If neither side can agree on the plea bargain terms, then it comes down to the jury.

> Thomas Drake was able to escape the prosecutors also playing judge because he was able to afford representation, and his funds outlasted the pressure the prosecution was able to bring against him.

Do you think Edward Snowden won't have funds to afford representation? Or that the ACLU will fail to raise funds for this highly anticipated case?

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