Plea Bargaining Institute Files Amicus Brief with U.S. Supreme Court
The Plea Bargaining Institute has filed its first amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in the case of Hunter v. United States. The case involves a defendant who gave a blanket waiver of the right to appeal as part of a plea bargain but later sought to challenge his sentence as unconstitutional. The case raises important questions regarding what limits or guardrails should be imposed on plea bargaining. The brief included discussion of studies regarding the reliability of pleas of guilty, the forces leading defendants to plead guilty, the phenomenon of false pleas of guilty by the innocent, and defendants’ knowledge and understanding of plea bargaining and their plea agreements. From the PBI amicus brief summary of argument section: That the Hunter case concluded with a plea of guilty is not surprising. As acknowledged by this Court in Lafler v. Cooper , 566 U.S. 156, 170 (2012), “ [C]riminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system...