Plea Bargains And Ethics

[David Sklansky]

Follow this closely please:

You are a defense attorney whose client is arrested for a felony. He tells you he did it and you think the proper punishment for the crime is ten years. A plea bargain is offerred by the prosecutors. They also believe tha fair sentence is ten years and that is their offer. Your client says five years, or no deal. The prosecutors tell him that if he doesn't take the deal they will try to put him away for twenty years. Your client still isn't swayed.

You now go to trial knowing that your client faces an "unfair" sentence if he is convicted. (I put unfair in quotes because some may claim he deserves the extra time for not cooperating) But your only hope of preventing this is to get him acquitted completely. And to do that you must assert thet he didn't do the crime at all. Even though you know he did. Ethical?