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DOJ-OGR-00000206.tif

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6 defendant. Even the most ably represented defendant cannot overcome this unequal balance of power. The government’s substantial “advantage in bargaining power” means that ambiguities like this one must be construed against the government. United States v. Gebbie, 294 F.3d 540, 552 (8d Cir. 2002). Defense counsel confront their clients’ unequal bargaining power every time they attempt to obtain a resolution that is in the best interest of their client while mollifying a prosecutor who has little institutional incentive to be lenient. Judge Charles Breyer accurately described the process: It is no answer to say that [the defendant] is striking a deal with the Government, and could reject this term if he wanted to, because that statement does not reflect the reality of the bargaining table. See Erik Luna & Marianne Wade, Prosecutors as Judges, 67 Wasu. & LEE L. Rev. 1413, 1414-15 (2010). As to terms such as this one, plea agreements are contracts of adhesion. The Government offers the defendant a deal, and the defendant can take it or leave it. Id. “American prosecutors ... choose whether to engage in plea negotiations and the terms of an acceptable agreement.”). If he leaves it, he does so at his peril. And the peril is real, because on the other side of the offer is the enormous power of the United States Attorney to investigate, to order arrests, to bring a case or to dismiss it, to recommend a sentence or the conditions of supervised release, and on DOJ-OGR- 00000206

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Filename DOJ-OGR-00000206.tif
File Size 35.3 KB
OCR Confidence 94.7%
Has Readable Text Yes
Text Length 1,498 characters
Indexed 2026-02-03 15:58:55.756295