What, defend yourself ? What would happen to the prison workforce if poor people could avoid conviction simply because they were innocent ?

The typical accused criminal in the US pays exactly zero to defend himself. The counties and states are more efficient than the feds, and as it happens, your typical burglar/rapist/drunk driver/drug dealer is, in fact, guilty, and plea bargains a year or five in the pen.

But, when the feds want to railroad a person, well, that person gets railroaded. He probably should have skipped bail.

Robbery is not a federal crime.

Train robbery and bank robbery, on the other hand...