I was offered a plea deal by the prosecutor.
The plea deal involved paying the government a large sum of money in exchange for no prison time. Plea deals are possible up until the moment the jury delivers a verdict, but the plea deal I was offered was made early in the game, around the time of my indictment.
If I pleaded guilty to the 210 charges in the indictment and agreed to not go to trial or otherwise take the government to task for wrecking my reputation and my life, and if I paid the government a lot of money (negotiable, perhaps), I could get on with my life.
Clearly, the prosecutor didn't regard me as a risk to society, someone who needed to be isolated from the world so that I couldn't "commit more crimes." You wouldn't offer a plea deal to a serial murderer.
But it's a crime to lie to an officer of the court. Punishments for lying to FBI agents, the police, a prosecutor--any official in the CRIMINAL SYSTEM (people have stopped calling it the "criminal justice system," funny thing) are extreme. Lying is termed an "obstruction of justice."
The penalty for obstruction of justice in the federal system is 5 to 10 years in prison, plus a fine.
For interfering with a witness or tampering with evidence (18 U.S.C. § 1512)--5 years. For obstructing proceedings before Congress or government agencies (18 U.S. C. § 1505)--5 years. For influencing a juror or an officer of the court (18 U.S. C. § 1503)--10 years.
If I pleaded guilty, I would be lying to ("influencing") an officer of the court, because I wasn't guilty. The punishment for this is 10 years in prison plus a fine. "It's part of the game," people told me. "Take a plea deal."
I cannot accept this. People should not have to say they're guilty when they're not. Legislators made a law that punishes lying. Prosecutors force innocent people to lie to avoid the charade of a trial and almost certain prison time. Innocent people who believe in the uprightness of the justice system and go to trial are punished more heavily when a jury convicts them--punished for not lying.
I was not guilty of a crime or any wrongdoing. I refused to say I was guilty to avoid prison. I went to trial. I got a prison sentence and a fine
I don't recommend this path, and I don't discourage it.
But today, I can live with myself.