Plea bargains are seldom done for the sake of convenience or avoiding the "expense" of a trial, at least in the federal (sorry if that's a dirty word here) judicial system. Before a plea is accepted, it's fully explained to the defendant, both in and out of court. Judges go to great length to make sure that the plea and its consequences are fully understood. In addition, going to trial does not automatically mean that a dfendants will be found not guilty. Case in point, a case came across my desk recently where the defendant turned down the plea, went to trial, was found guilty by a jury, and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. Is the system perfect? No, but it's the best I'm aware of.

excellent article. I also clicked through to Downey's article on KPMG. That was a rviting read. We never hear about cases like this in the news! or if they're reported, a 10 sec blurb. It is striking to me, after reading both articles, how the citizen or business will always be nailed into the coffin and govt officials or IRS agents never go to prison for their crimes-well unless it's Chicago-the token white collar throwaway. as citizens, we just accept this, either through intimidation or apathy

btw, I am not giving this a point back up, because you're obviously getting dinged. I hope the admin are looking into this