Quote:
Originally Posted by mardigras
Yeah, kinda 
In many cases I bet the defendant is thrilled they have the option of conviction on lesser charges. |
well in this Zimmerman case it's the opposite, he'd beat the 2nd degree murder rap and walk free but with the lesser charges available he's probably going to get convicted of something and do serious jail time. of course without the lesser charges being available the prosecution would probably have never charged him with 2nd degree murder. when it's all or nothing you set the bar lower and a manslaughter charge would have been the choice.
sarettah's copy n paste from wikipedia says it's mandatory in capital crimes that there be lesser charges available because the assumption by the SC was that without the lesser charges option the jury has only two choices - death sentence or total freedom, and juries would lean towards more guilty verdicts not wanting to let somebody go totally free. that is the exact opposite of how i would feel if i was on a jury in a capital murder case, if there are only 2 choices and one is putting a man to death i'm going to lean heavily towards acquitting if there's ANY chance he's guilty. if you give me the option of a less charge that doesn't carry the death penalty I'm more likely to convict and send him to prison.