Victims in the Criminal Justice System

25 October

• Our panel (all UW law alums):
  1. Denny Burke: over 30 yrs in PD's office
  2. Wynn Collins: former Green Lake County DA, now AAG at DoJ
  3. Mario White: 3 yrs in PD office
  4. Marianne Sumi: presided over Julie Orton case, 13 years on the bench, previously @ DoJ
• "In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls." -- Lenny Bruce
• In plea negotiation, focus on what you agree on-- in most cases there are lots of facts the parties agree on. We generally agree that there was a crime, and that the defendant commited it. From there, can we agree on what crime it was? And if so, what components need to be in the sentence? You spend 90% of the time on the 10% of things you don't agree on.
• Strategy: come to the first plea negotiation meeting unrepresented; learn stuff, and then decide if you want a lawyer.
• Negotiation: in a room with 4-5 DAs, 15-20 defense attorneys, and 15-20 or so defendants who are unrepresented. It's short conversations, and chaotic.
• Most plea bargains come to the judge as a joint recommendation. The second category is ones where they just agree on the charge, and not the sentence.
• "Jumping" a plea agreement: imposing a sentence greater than the recommendation. Judge Sumi warns if this is a possibility, and says what is bothering her about the recommendation, so the person can avoid entering a plea and the parties can go back and re-think.
• There are fewer factual disagreements than there were 25 years ago (because of science). A plea agreement isn't necessarily a failure.
• A victim impact statement might be written some time before the sentencing hearing-- the victim's feelings may have changed. Judge Sumi looks at the date on a victim's statement.
• Interesting trivia: the intensity of a victim's feelings may increase over time in identity theft crimes, because the effects are delayed and not anchored to the event of the theft itself.
• Typical prosecutor handles ~400 cases/year.
• Pleas conditioned on sign-off by victim can be frustrating if the client is in custody, and it is taking time to hear from the victim.
• Crime has victims other than the ones named in the criminal complaint: the families of the defendants, e.g.
• In crimes with multiple victims, not all victims may agree on what they want as an outcome.
• Over 60% of ADAs and DDAs have fewer than 5 years of experience.