AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() Despite EDC’s stated purpose - to divert drug offenders away from incarceration and toward treatment - MCAO prosecutors are seeking to send him to prison for almost 10 years. ![]() Another Plaintiff is a 61-year-old man with a substance use disorder who was charged with selling $20 worth of drugs. Plaintiffs include a 34-year-old man who felt threatened by MCAO’s retaliation policy and felt he had no choice but to waive his right to a preliminary hearing in order to get more discovery. “These tactics - like MCAO’s policy of punishing people simply for asserting their rights - mock the Constitution and hit marginalized communities the hardest.” “For too long, too many prosecutors have used pressure tactics and threats to extract quick, low-cost pleas and keep the crooked assembly line of mass incarceration moving,” said Somil Trivedi, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. It is during the EDC process that prosecutors threaten people with retaliation for exercising their rights and present people with a devastating choice - either waive your right to a probable cause hearing and accept the first guilty plea, all without access to the evidence against you, or MCAO will make any later plea “substantially harsher.” These EDCs were initially created to quickly move cases involving minor offenses or drug possession through the system, with the stated goal of helping people in need of drug treatment and other services avoid convictions. MCAO enforces its retaliatory plea policy in the Early Disposition Courts (EDCs). In emails to public defenders, Maricopa County prosecutors openly acknowledge that one purpose of the policy is to avoid the work of reviewing evidence and preparing for trial. Prosecutors also refuse to disclose any information beyond police reports - even if they have it - unless people give up their rights. Moreover, the retaliation policy applies regardless of the facts of any case, or even if the person might be innocent. This "retaliation policy" coerces thousands of guilty pleas per year and violates the Constitution. PHOENIX - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) policy of making plea offers "substantially harsher" if people assert their rights to a preliminary hearing or a trial. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |