It is such a rare case, state or federal, that does not end with a plea bargain that we must conclude either that prosecutors hardly ever file erroneous charges or possess great coercive powers.
In 2011, according to The Wall Street Journal, 97 percent of federal cases ended with a plea, although prosecutors may not be quite so infallible as those numbers suggest. Some of those who acquiesced to a spell in prison in return for reduced charges could no doubt have beaten the rap, as the Kenneth Kassab case suggested.
Kassab, the Journal reported, pulled out of a deal at the last minute, went to trial and was acquitted. Only a tiny minority of indictments lead to such a happy outcome, however, and other defendants will rue the day they decided to resist the threats or blandishments of prosecutors and face trial.
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Nagin, who is now 56, could be around 80 before he gets out of the pen if he goes to trial and loses, the outcome on which most of us would be inclined to bet. His attorney said he was surprised when the indictment was handed up because he was in the middle of negotiations with the feds. That presumably indicates Nagin was up for a deal but balked at what the feds regarded as an appropriate sentence.
