Prosecution Folds in Baldwin Case

The prosecutors sudden and complete capitulation shows not just that the case against Baldwin was weak. It confirms that there was all along either gross prosecutorial incompetence or ethical breach, more likely the breach, as  I suggested in my 1/30 post and was far from alone in so suggesting. 

 

One problem of our plea bargain system of justice is that prosecutors become accustomed to defendants' taking their offers. In particular, an offer of a misdemeanor (possibly with little or no jail time) is very often a good enough deal for defendants, sometimes even for wholly innocent defendants. Baldwin didn't bite, and the befuddled prosecution folded.

To say that the case against Badwin was weak is generous. It was weak, in part facially defective, on the law. Factually it was yet weaker. An epigram of the trial craft runs: "If you're stong on the law, but weak on the facts, pound on the law. If you're weak on the law, but strong on the facts, pound on the facts. If you're weak on the law and weak on the facts, pound on the table." To this we might add, that if pounding on the table is unlikely to work, offer the other side a really good settlement.

In the crimnal court, it is, unfortunately, not uncommon that the settlement is made artificially attractive to the defendant by overcharging him in the first place.

I am going to assume that the prosecutors here were not simply looking for publicity that would advance their political careers, but that they really thought Baldwin probably did something wrong and that investigation might well turn up enough to make the misdemeanor stick. They may or may not have appreciated just how inapt were the felony charges.

Charge a felony, and the defendant may plead to a misdemeanor, even though it would be difficult to prove at trial. This bad faith prosecutorial tactic is, however, much less likely to succeed where the defendant has the resources to mount a first class defense. 

In the Baldwin case, the tactic was a flat failure. The prosecution cut their losses.