Video – Attorney Spencer Freeman Answers: If My Attorney Is Known For Going To Trial, Can I Get A Better Deal When Plea Bargaining?

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“It’s almost like a no-win situation if you have a prosecutor where you’ve had some previous history with…and it just carries on, and that defendant is at the whim and will of that prosecutor.“

Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA

“That can be true, but my experience is that prosecutors don’t like to lose, as nobody does. And generally speaking, those contentious relationships happen when you’ve beaten the prosecutor at some point in time. Although not all prosecutors have that attitude. But one of the things that I think is absolutely key to be able to further the best potential negotiation, is for the prosecutor to know that the defense attorney is willing and able and capable of going to trial. If you’re the prosecutor and you know the defense attorney on the other side is never going to go to trial, then that shapes the type of negotiations that you have. But if the prosecutor knows, like I believe that I’m known for being willing and capable of going to trial, then they’ve got to balance that. The State’s got to balance how many cases they want to try or can try. Or they’ve got risks at trial, obviously, and if they lose a case at trial, that’s a big deal to them.”