Sidney Powell has agreed to plea guilty for her efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to flip on Trump.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    That doesn’t sound right… According to Cornell:

    In some jurisdictions, prosecutors and defendants can work with judges to predetermine what sentence the defendants will get if the defendants accept plea bargains. In most jurisdictions, however, judges’ role in plea bargaining is limited. For example, federal judges retain final authority over sentencing decisions, and are not bound by prosecutors’ recommendations, even if the recommendations are part of plea bargains.

    So the court can still sentence the party pleading guilty as they like but it sounds like they don’t typically have anything to do with the plea deal itself.

    They also play a role in enforcement:

    Courts treat plea bargains as contracts between prosecutors and defendants. A defendant breaking a plea bargain is akin to a breach of contract, which will result in the prosecutor no longer being bound by his or her obligation in the plea deal.