They gotta keep that 99% conviction rate both to keep their jobs, and also later to get a high flying criminal defense career.
How do they get 99% conviction rates? By ‘throwing the book’ at the accused and charging people with every conceivable crime related to the charge no matter how implausible a conviction on some of them might be... and sometimes threatening to charge a spouse or child too. Then, “kindly” offering a plea bargain. When you are facing a 15 count indictment plus bankruptcy in legal fees to defend yourself, the prospect of pleading guilty to 1 lesser charge and a short jail sentence looks attractive.
Our justice system has gone haywire. But that’s how they do it. If everyone refused to take a plea, the criminal justice system would grind to a halt. There are not enough courtrooms and prosecutors and judges to handle all the indictments that are handed out. Prosecutors absolutely depend on plea bargains to get through their workload, so they come down with a stack of books on everyone in the attempt to blackmail them into a plea. It’s not justice at all.
17 people died ergo that many counts. Then who else is culpable? Was the captain following orders like a getaway car driver while the bosses killed all in the bank and stole the money? I’d like to know. All in, all swing. There’s more than just a dumbass boat driver in this B S. Bankruptcy and running should be criminal.
The duck boat is capable of traveling on land or water. If they had accidentally flipped the boat on the road and killed the same number of people, would the captain be facing 170 years in prison?
This looks to be another example of prosecutor overreach.