Video – Attorney Spencer Freeman Explains If Plea Bargaining Varies County By County?

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“I also know that you practice, literally, all over the state of Washington. So, the question that I have is, going back to plea bargaining, does it vary between county and county?”

Spencer Freeman – Criminal Defense Attorney – Pierce County, WA

“You mean as far as their willingness to plea bargain, or the type of plea bargains? Yes, it does. But also, even within a county. For instance, the Pierce County prosecutor’s office enters and deals with plea bargains a different way than some of the municipalities, who have their own courts and their own prosecutor’s office. So, even within one county you can have some pretty substantial differences.

For instance, in Kitsap county, I know the prosecutors out there pretty well. They certainly negotiate differently, but also from their standpoint. For instance, I had a case out there at one point that had a certain amount of meth that was involved in the case. And the prosecutors out there were being really harsh about where they wanted to get this case going because this was the most amount of meth they had ever seen. Whereas cases in Pierce county, that same amount of meth wasn’t anywhere close to the most anybody’s ever seen. Those types of circumstances can change things.”