I'm not a lawyer but I have a few experiences with the court system and have hired good lawyers before.
I think overall the biggest factor is how bad they want to get you. And you can tell by how extensive of a case they built... did they have people wire tapping your phones, going through your hard drives, and following you around doing stakeouts? Is the lead prosecutor of your jurisdiction on the case? If so you're in so much more trouble than someone of low priority to them.
Then how many holes has your lawyer poked in their case? Most cases, 95-98% depending on jurisdiction, do not reach trial. The consequences of going to trial and losing are so much worse than the plea bargain that people take the bargain. Sometimes guilty to crimes they are innocent of, which the innocence project has proven.
If even a quarter of all cases went to trial the whole legal system would fall apart, so they usually don't want to try the case and aren't prepared to either, unless they really want to get you. But the number and quality of holes in the case (from probable cause, excluded evidence, issues with the law as written etc) will lend you a more favorable plea bargain.
In this case the feds really wanted to get these people. It didn't go to trial, as usual, and the one who turned state's witness got the best deal. Had no one turned state's witness and/or it was a lower priority they all probably would've gotten a much more lenient deal the day of trial, IMO with no jail time. But DiMaggio kinda screwed the others.
I think overall the biggest factor is how bad they want to get you. And you can tell by how extensive of a case they built... did they have people wire tapping your phones, going through your hard drives, and following you around doing stakeouts? Is the lead prosecutor of your jurisdiction on the case? If so you're in so much more trouble than someone of low priority to them.
Then how many holes has your lawyer poked in their case? Most cases, 95-98% depending on jurisdiction, do not reach trial. The consequences of going to trial and losing are so much worse than the plea bargain that people take the bargain. Sometimes guilty to crimes they are innocent of, which the innocence project has proven.
If even a quarter of all cases went to trial the whole legal system would fall apart, so they usually don't want to try the case and aren't prepared to either, unless they really want to get you. But the number and quality of holes in the case (from probable cause, excluded evidence, issues with the law as written etc) will lend you a more favorable plea bargain.
In this case the feds really wanted to get these people. It didn't go to trial, as usual, and the one who turned state's witness got the best deal. Had no one turned state's witness and/or it was a lower priority they all probably would've gotten a much more lenient deal the day of trial, IMO with no jail time. But DiMaggio kinda screwed the others.
