State of Minnesota v. Nicholas Rekieta, Kayla Rekieta, April Imholte

[Autistic Integrity]

I think the judge, not the jury, decides the sentence in Minnesota, but otherwise yes, if you go to trial you should be prepared for any outcome. I wouldn't say "maximum possible", because sentencing guidelines can be exceeded but only in unusual situations, but you should be prepared for whatever the sentencing guidelines state at least. Your lawyer can probably tell you whether you're risking having the judge exceed the guidelines or not.

I draw a distinction between rewarding a defendant with a slightly better outcome for taking a plea, vs. punishing a defendant for going to trial. The former is fine, the latter is unjust. If going to trial just gets them what they deserved, that is fine; if the "machine" is angry at them for having the audacity to make it go all the way to justice, that is wrong.

People are only going to go to trial if they think the outcome will be better. They're not going to say "eh, I could take this plea, or I go to trial and get the same thing, you know what I'm going to spend thousands of my own dollars to take this to trial because the State is going to spend 1.5x that, and fuck the state". Especially not when they're paying a lawyer. I could see defendants with a public defender wanting to take it all the way, but it's not just to screw over the State; it's in the hopes of getting a better outcome. Being hauled through the process isn't fun, even if the prosecutor is along for the ride. It's less fun for you than it is for them. They're salaried.

Unless you think you have a shot at beating it it tends to be one of those "it is what it is" situations. Not to mention it looks better to just fess up and accept your punishment if you committed a crime. The judge is going to show more mercy if you just admit you did it and are remorseful than fighting it.

 

[Canard]

Unless you think you have a shot at beating it it tends to be one of those "it is what it is" situations. Not to mention it looks better to just fess up and accept your punishment if you committed a crime. The judge is going to show more mercy if you just admit you did it and are remorseful than fighting it.

And also how you fight it. Compare to April's motion, while nothing great at least you are not accusing of a cop lying. Which in general in this stage is not most loved move.

 

[Swole McPole]

So I wouldn't get your hopes up but actual incarceration, even as the best deal he could get, is at least actually possible.

Sure. My point is really just that the courts have been bending over backwards for most of the last forty years to avoid sending people to prison for simply using drugs. The bar is much higher than that. You have to really want to go to prison before they'll send you away. Give them an excuse not to send you and they'll take it.

Diversion programs aren't automatic, and typically (prob. universally but I don't have comprehensive knowledge) require entry of a guilty plea which kicks in if you don't comply with the terms of diversion.

See above. Prisons aren't full of people who are there for simple possession charges. Even on supply charges, if it's fairly modest quantities, they're looking for reasons not to send you. There are just too many people involved and prison is too damned expensive. If the government wanted to, they could stand on street corners scooping people up by the barrel load, locking them up by the hundreds.

Reality is, nobody gives much of a fuck. You have to work really hard to go to jail. Even people who get sent to diversion programmes for dealing or drug related acquisitive crime will tend to get multiple chances of fucking up before the judge decides he's had enough and you're going down the stairs.

But hell, it's not just drugs any more. They've pretty well decriminalized huge amounts of acquisitive crime in large parts of the US and the UK as well. The bar to even getting arrested is really high these days. Prisons are full of people who, in the main, have committed crimes so egregious you don't want them walking the streets.

 

[MunsterCheeseJr]

Prison is unironically the only way to punish him. Probation and rehab won't. He needs to do about 18-30 months. That's enough time for his id to be completely destroyed so he might come out the other side a changed man for the better.

We are talking about a full fledged delusional narcissist here. Not even prison is going to change him. The only hope for improvement is IF he can recognize he has a problem narcissism (good luck getting past the narcissism reality distortion fields here) AND he gets help from a psychiatrist that specializes in narcissism (you pretty much only find those in very large cities, then perhaps, maybe just maybe, Nick can be taught methods and tools to help keep his narcissism under control so that he is not as destructive to the people in his life.

On the flip side, if Nick keeps on passing those drug tests, I don't see him getting sentenced to jail outside of probation violations.

 

[AnOminous]

The bar to even getting arrested is really high these days.

It's almost impressive Nick managed to be such a gargantuan idiot to get arrested.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

Unless Nick has an excellent lawyer, he's in deep shit on the drug charges alone. Don't commit felonies, folks.

 

[joebobmurphy]

This isn't actually a simple possession charge. It's a pretty high amount. On top of that, it isn't just drugs, it's guns, too, plus kids are involved.

So I wouldn't get your hopes up but actual incarceration, even as the best deal he could get, is at least actually possible.

And remember Nick himself and his shills like Barnes are predicting total victory because government conspiracy.

You know what that means.

I'm scratching my head at the statement that people, black or white, don't go to jail for possession anymore. Aren't we Americans rather famous for flooding our prisons with anyone caught with marijuana to fuel to private prison industry. SOAD even made a song about it. In recent memory a quadrapelegic black man who needed round the clock care was put in prison for MJ despite being a first-time offender. He died during his 10-day sentence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Magbie

 

[Himedall All-seeing Waifu]

People are only going to go to trial if they think the outcome will be better. They're not going to say "eh, I could take this plea, or I go to trial and get the same thing, you know what I'm going to spend thousands of my own dollars to take this to trial because the State is going to spend 1.5x that, and fuck the state".

This actually sounds like Nick.

 

[Lubby Smith]

"If every defendant got the full amount of justice they deserve, the system would grind to a halt" is not a justification for giving some defendants less than the full amount of justice they deserve.

Sure, some defendants can plea out early, thus saving your "machine" some wear and tear, but you need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario: every defendant gets a fair trial.

Suggesting that defendants should be punished more harshly for getting a full, fair trial is downright abominable.

I'm just telling it like it is.

A defendant's choice to exercise his right to trial can't be a factor at sentencing, but admitting guilt and taking responsibility absolutely can.

I think all plea bargaining should be abolished. The legislature writes laws, which the police enforce, but lazy ass prosecutors are bartering with defense attorneys like they're working a deal at a Moroccan bazaar. A defendant's options should be to exercise his right to plead guilty and beg for mercy, or go to trial. It would keep everyone honest.

 

[Thomas Talus]

I think all plea bargaining should be abolished. The legislature writes laws, which the police enforce, but lazy ass prosecutors are bartering with defense attorneys like they're working a deal at a Moroccan bazaar. A defendant's options should be to exercise his right to plead guilty and beg for mercy, or go to trial. It would keep everyone honest.

The system couldn't survive the caseload. You would probably need 10x the number of judges, courtrooms, public defenders, people called up for jury duty, etc.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

I'm just telling it like it is.

A defendant's choice to exercise his right to trial can't be a factor at sentencing, but admitting guilt and taking responsibility absolutely can.

I think all plea bargaining should be abolished. The legislature writes laws, which the police enforce, but lazy ass prosecutors are bartering with defense attorneys like they're working a deal at a Moroccan bazaar. A defendant's options should be to exercise his right to plead guilty and beg for mercy, or go to trial. It would keep everyone honest.

Due process is necessary for preventing prosecutorial fuckery.

 

[KaiserBlade]

If you take a plea deal you can't appeal (at least in my state it is part of the agreement)
Edit to add stuff in parentheses

In most states, and in federal courts as far as I can tell, pleading guilty means you forego your right to an appeal.

Yeah, no chance Nose takes ANY deal that involves time behind bars, prison or otherwise.

 

[DavidS877]

In most states, and in federal courts as far as I can tell, pleading guilty means you forego your right to an appeal.

Yeah, no chance Nose takes ANY deal that involves time behind bars, prison or otherwise.

I'm curious if he would take a deal that required drug and or alcohol testing for a time.

 

[Thomas Talus]

I'm curious if he would take a deal that required drug and or alcohol testing for a time.

I'd be amazed if there were a plea offer that didn't have a substance abuse package attached to it.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm scratching my head at the statement that people, black or white, don't go to jail for possession anymore. Aren't we Americans rather famous for flooding our prisons with anyone caught with marijuana to fuel to private prison industry.

Almost all states now have drug diversion programs and it's a rarity to see a simple possession charge amount to much, at least for things like marijuana. Some states even don't really go after heroin and cocaine, although those are a LOT more likely to get you in real trouble even in the more lenient states.

And most states, even those that have legalized things like dispensaries, do still go after dealing outside that system.

With a lot of states letting minor drug offenses slide, and the feds not really picking up the slack even though it's still federally illegal, and with even the states that do pursue such cases increasingly preferring diversionary programs and treatment supervised by drug courts, there just really isn't a lot of enthusiasm for "War on Drugs" stuff.

There are definitely jurisdictions that are exceptions where you still have some boomer prosecutor or sheriff going after it harshly but that's a lot less common.

I suspect we're going to see some backlash at some point, especially in areas where lax enforcement or no enforcement has resulted in increased types of other crime.

I'm curious if he would take a deal that required drug and or alcohol testing for a time.

If they do they're probably going to insist on some method of testing that doesn't make it easy for Nick to cheat as he's obviously been doing. Maybe he's permafried or something, but he's really been acting erratic and out of control lately, almost as bad as right before the cokestream.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

I'm curious if he would take a deal that required drug and or alcohol testing for a time.

I'm sure he'd take the deal because he'd be sure he could be smarter than the testing program (which, to be fair, is actually possible, since a lot of that testing is farmed out to lowest bid contractors).

 

[HackerX]

If he wants to take a deal, doesn't he have to plead guilty? I just can't see him ever admitting wrongdoing, so how can he take the deal?

As far as the public mage aspect, he'll attempt to wordsmith every which way to manipulate his fans into thinking he took the plea to protect his family, but everything is untrue. Though I do wonder if he'll go a bit too far before the plea is accepted by the judge. Didn't BakedAlaska have an issue where he was playing fuck fuck games and the judge threw his plea deal out?

 

[AnOminous]

Didn't BakedAlaska have an issue where he was playing fuck fuck games and the judge threw his plea deal out?

I thought he later did plead for real, but at the plea hearing, he was pleading guilty but then started babbling about how he dindu nuffin and the judge said no dice.

 

[PsyopDuck]

I thought he later did plead for real, but at the plea hearing, he was pleading guilty but then started babbling about how he dindu nuffin and the judge said no dice.

Baked told the judge that he was pleading guilty only to receive a reduced sentence, and maintained that he was innocent of any crimes. Embarrassing for all parties involved.

 

[AnOminous]

Baked told the judge that he was pleading guilty only to receive a reduced sentence, and maintained that he was innocent of any crimes. Embarrassing for all parties involved.

You could admit you were pleading to get a reduced sentence. Everyone knows that's the whole point. What you can't do is insist you dindu nuffin. You have to give an "allocution of guilt," which basically means admitting on the record that you committed the acts that constituted a crime. You can't insist on your innocence unless you got the prosecution and judge to go along with an Alford, which does allow you to do that.