Quote:
Originally Posted by Acey
As far as his criminal history, my only question would be why the 10 other charges in 2006 were withdrawn, given his past even up to that point. Would sentences for whatever those charges be still have him imprisoned now? Probably not, but I'm curious.
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Typically when there is such a large number of charges withdrawn on one guilty plea it is because the person was charged with several overlapping or redundant offences.
Firearms cases are particularly notorious for this because one incident of illegal possession of a handgun can technically hit the elements of a dozen code provisions.
In the end, the Crown will often want a plea to the most serious count they can prove and the defence will press for the least serious count. A global sentence is usually given regardless, so in some instances withdrawing a whole pile of charges can seem significant when really it is not.
That said without knowing what the 'deal' was it is truly impossible to know if the Crown had given anything up of importance. More importantly, even if they did, you would need to know what problems they might have had with their case before you could fairly criticize any deal.
In fact, the plea deal might well have been the step necessary to get the most possible jail time (running a trial could have led to all acquittals).