Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Now in 2013, I'm getting back on some of my observance of legal matters to discuss here on the blog. I hope some of what I'm writing is finding a way to help someone, somewhere. That is my intention being a voice from inside the prison industrial complex.

A "deferred prosecution agreement" is a slap in the face to the scales of justice. This type of agreement can't be real. Is this a joke? I declare justice to be one-sided, unfocused, and unrealistic.

What is a "deferred prosecution agreement?" My definition: This is an agreement between the crime committer and the investigating prosecutor. The agreement says, "Dear prosecutor you will not continue to pursue me for the obvious crime I committed, in exchange for my monetary payment and implementation of an overseer of my operations, whom I will choose and install." Of course, this is NOT the agreement given to every white-collar case, but only to the rich. The very rich.

Recently, there have been a number of federal cases where blatant, obvious, hand in the cookie jar crimes have been committed. Large Wall street companies have been found to commit insider trading, or finance companies have done illegal interest rate deals hurting the American public. The U.S. prosecutors know of this public or private deceit and instead of giving a punishment as they were so happy to do in lesser cases they instead defer prosecution, for a fee.

This deferred prosecution is akin to the following example:

A drunk driver is pulled over at the 9am rush hour and his blood alcohol level is equivalent is 10 times the legal limit. What should cop do? Arrest him, let him go to possibly kill someone or pull out a piece of paper, a contract, called a deferred prosecution agreement?

In this example the cop decides not to arrest the drunk driver who (by the way) was driving the opposite direction on a one-way street. The cop says instead "Give me $500 now, and I'll let you go on your way."

This scenario cannot be fathomed but it happens everyday by prosecutor who are money motivated. After all, prosecutors have the choice of what charges to bring against you, which chargers to drop, and how many charges to include on any indictment.

Should my financial strength have been a factor in my criminal case? My case would not have been criminal, my life would not have been altered, I would not be divorced, I would have attended my aunt's funeral, my two uncles funerals, my kids first days of school, my grandmothers medical scare, my mom's medical scare and I would have not endured the shame, branding, stigma or humiliation of prison.

Deferred prosecution agreements help no one but the accused to avoid prison and the government to collect huge sums of money to therefore never bring criminal charges to court. All people are not treated equal and this method of purchased justice is all the proof the American people should need.

Oh, did I mention this method of escape also greases the pockets of attorneys who negotiate this deal? You'd be surprised to know all the details, and I'm sure only some can afford it.

Who gets justice is chosen by someone other than a judge or jury and I'm sure the founders of this country did not intend such a metamorphosis of the law. This will be the year when criminal justice transparency becomes a topic of concern in America.

Stay tuned... John K. Wannamaker - the voice from inside.