Such a system is inherently corrupt, IMO, especially since the vast majority of the accused are unable to obtain competent legal help.
In a high-profile case such as this one, police and prosecutors are pressured to "close the case." Doing so with the actual perps is a lot less of a priority.
Yup.. my son was busted for three felonies for basically sitting on his front stoop...
His drug dealing neighbor was the one they were after...
He lived in the same building and had a small amount of weed in his place...he got lumped together I guess to make a point..
Told him over and over and over the public defender was not going to help him get the charges reduced as she claimed, her job was to process him into the system to extract as much money out of him for probation, drug education classes, anger management sessions (???), court costs.
Unfortunately I was right...it's going to take a lot more money now to clear his felonies then getting a decent lawyer when it first happened...