That's the most terrible thing about it - it happens every day that people are bullied into surrendering their right to fair trial, and nobody cares. With current system, the right for fair trial is mainly for somebody that could afford to spend a million dollar on it or that is famous enough to have public support and donations. For average Joe, once you got charged with a crime, your life is ruined in any case, whatever jury says. And given that prosecutors have much more knowledge of how juries work than you - getting a bargain may be your only chance to be free in next 10 years or so.

You can either hand me your wallet, or I shoot you in the face with this gun. This happens every single day for all types of people in the US.

Man, mugging and extortion sounds so much better now that I realize how often it happens. Thanks, res0nat0r!

I'm not sure how 6 months of jail time for repeatedly breaking the law is anywhere near "extortion".

I think you've misunderstood the extortion analogy. The six months is the "Give me your wallet" portion of the analogy.

Considering the nature of the "crime" and the nature of prison, I'm not sure how you could possibly not be sure of that.

It's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Ever been in jail?

That it happens every day makes it somehow okay?

But this wasn't like every other crime was it? It was political. There is NO guarantee that he'd have gotten 6 months. NONE.