You need to understand that these people are maximalists. They're never going to say 'we're asking for 7 years' in any context where that can be recorded, because it weakens their hand at the bargaining table. In fact, the shakier the case is, the more they need those 'worst case' numbers to terrify.

The only things that matter to these maximalist dickholes is:

* successful conviction * maximum penalty they can achieve with what they have * if you don't take the plea bargain, make you regret it

If they really hate you, they put people on 'document generation duty', which is cheaper than document review, and throw hundreds of thousands of documents at you during trial. They find the most expensive venue for you, and if you have an employer that has somehow stuck by you this long, they coerce it into letting you go.

The entire goal of this sort of thing is to deprive people of a chance to actually go to trial and stand a chance of acquittal, particularly when gaining a conviction 'honestly' is going to be difficult or expensive.