Paul Craig Roberts: The Justice Department Is Devoid Of Justice
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,
In the United States the criminal justice (sic) system is itself not subject to law. We see immunity to law continually as police commit felonies against citizens and even murder children and walk away free. We see it all the time when prosecutors conduct political prosecutions and when they prosecute the innocent in order to build their conviction record. We see it when judges fail to prevent prosecutors from withholding exculpatory evidence and bribing witnesses and when judges accept coerced plea deals that deprive the defendant of a jury trial.
We just saw it again when federal prosecutors recommended a six month prison sentence for Lt. Gen. Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency accused of lying to the FBI about nothing of any importance, for being uncooperative in the Justice (sic) Department’s effort to frame President Trump with false “Russiagate” charges. The Justice (sic) Department prosecutor said:
“The sentence should adequately deter the defendant from violating the law, and to promote respect for the law. It is clear that the defendant has not learned his lesson. He has behaved as though the law does not apply to him, and as if there are no consequences for his actions.”
That is precisely what the Justice (sic) Department itself did for years in their orchestration of the fake Russiagate charges against Trump.
The prosecutor’s hypocrisy is overwhelming.
The Justice (sic) Department is a criminal organization. It has no sense of justice. Convicting the innocent builds the conviction rate of the prosecutor as effectively as convicting the guilty. The Horowitz report of the Justice (sic) Department’s lies to the FISA court did not recommend a six-month prision sentence for those Justice (sic) Deplartment officials who lied to the government. Horowitz covered up the crimes by converting them into “mistakes.” Yes, they are embarrassing “mistakes,” but mistakes don’t bring prison sentences.
Gen. Flynn, who was President Trump’s National Security Advisor for a couple of weeks before Mueller and Flynn’s attorneys manuevered him into a plea bargain, allegedly lied to the FBI about whether he met with a Russian. Flynn and his attorneys should never have accepted the proposition that a National Security Advisor shouldn’t meet with Russians. Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski met with Russians all the the time. It was part of their job. Trump originally intended to normalize the strained relations with Russia. Flynn should have been meeting with Russians. It was his job.
Ninety-seven percent of felony cases are resolved with plea bargains. In other words, there is no trial. The defendant admits to guilt for a lighter sentence, and if he throws in “cooperation,” which generally means giving false evidence against someone else in the prosecutor’s net, no sentence at all. Flynn was expected to help frame Trump and Flynn’s former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, on an unrelated matter. He didn’t, which means he is “uncooperative” and deserving of a prison sentence.
Plea bargains have replaced trials for three main reasons.
- One is that the defense attorney doesn’t want the hard work of defending his client.
- One is that the majority of defendants cannot afford to pay the cost of defense.
- One is that refusing to plea guilty and demanding a trial angers both the prosecutor and judge.
Trials take time and provide a test of often unreliable police and prosecutorial evidence. They mean work for the prosecutor. Even if he secures a conviction, during the same time he could have obtained many more plea bargain convictions. For the judge, trials back up his case docket. Consequently, a trial means for the defendant very high risks of a much longer and more severe sentence than he would get in exchange for saving prosecutor and judge time and energy. All of this is explained to the defendant by his attorney.
It was explained to Gen. Flynn. He agreed to a plea, most likely advised that his “offense” was so minor, no sentence would be forthcoming. Flynn later tried to revoke his plea, saying it was coerced, but the Clinton-appointed judge refused to let him out of the trap.