I am a victim of circumstance because I did not know the law regarding a twenty some year old can of mace. Everyone knows however, that it is unlawful to put a gun to someone's head and blow their brains out because we want their car.
We all know that it is illegal to go to the border and buy ten kilos of Cocaine, and come back home with it and break it up in little envelopes and sell in on the street corner...Are you seeing the difference here? I'll try it another way, just in case you still don't get it...
The prosecution of the case has the murder weapon, 17 eye witnesses, a video tape, the defendants confession. Has all of this, so, within 30 days, fry the bastard.
Case number two... Joe Coke Head. Get's caught with 463 - 1 gram envelopes of cocaine on the corner of 3rd and Vine. He is asked what he is doing, and he says he selling coke..."Want some?" He gets busted with it all and the jury finds him guilty...lock 'em up and throw away the key...
Case number three.... Me... I'm driving down the road in my wife's car and get pulled over by the cops for doing 5 over. They want to search my wife's vehicle. I let them. They find a 20 + year old can of mace that is larger than the legal limit in the glove box. Her dad gave it to her when she got her license at 16. He said, "here honey, keep this with you, just in case you need it..." Around the same time, Michigan passed a law regarding 35grms was now the legal limit. This canister was 105grms. It is listed in section 14, sub section D, listing 14.D.7...Yea, I hobby reading Michigan Statute on Friday nights. Hardly... And one can go down the street here today, walk into a surplus store and pick between 2 or 3 different manufacturers 110 gram canisters...yes, still being sold on the shelf legally!!
Okay, ignorance is no excuse...I decide no on taking a plea, and go to court...to be judged by a Jury of my peers...they nullify it, and I go free... See the difference now???????
If you are FOUND guilty, then you do the time. If you are not, then you walk the line...simple as that.
Is there a reason you didn't answer my question about you being caught with a small amount of drugs in your glovebox?
You really don't get it, do you? Using your own philosophy, you should have been rushed through the system and should be serving the maximum penalty right now. But you're not (and you hopefully won't) because you and your attorney are going to argue that the situation does not merit this blind, simpleminded approach. And you're right in making that argument. Just like many, many other people that are caught up in the system argue that their own cases involve unique circumstances that the court should take into account.
All your hypotheticals are moot because under your proposed system, it doesn't *matter* whether someone is obviously, unquestionably guilty. Your automatic maximum-penalty would apply to everyone. Unless, of course, you want the Court to take into account the surrounding circumstances and make case-by-case determinations about what kind of sentence is actually warranted (as you want the Court to do for you).
Again, I truly hope that the parties involved in your case are not as simplistic and as reactionary as you as you would have them be to others. Maybe you should ask your defense attorney what he thinks of your proposed criminal justice system...
Good luck.