What happens is the feds cherry pick targets, and (lower case) god forbid you draw an honest prosecutor. It becomes personal. Law is a ADVERSARIAL process, so by definition, the government becomes your adversary. How many of these “bribe your way into college” instances do you imagine exist? I would think thousands. Are they all going to be charged? Hahahahah. Fat chance. The government has picked these targets, hoping to stifle certain common conduct.
Another slick trick is to find a judge sympathetic to your side of the war. There is a huge space of “acceptable” judicial practice. What I mean is pick a case, any case. Now imagine that case with a judge who is sympathetic to defendant, and skews all evidentiary, jury selection, etc. calls in defendant’s favor. Imagine in contrast, hostility toward the defendant - not open hostility, but calling all the shots in the prosecutor’s favor. Chances of EITHER approach being reversed on appeal is close to zero.
In this sort of case, justice is pretty much “random,” but money, power and celebrity always talks. The rule of law is not really much different from rule of the jungle. The powerful have HUGE advantage.
Wow. Didn’t think about all that
Makes me wonder how Jr. got FOUR mistrials.
They didn’t go for a 5th.