Is there any possibility of a Plea Deal on the Murder Charges?

[chefmom]

In the cases where ineffective counsel can be proven, this can be grounds to negate the waiver of an appeal that is included in a plea agreement. i would imagine the bar is pretty high.
Now while this is the case here in CA but I do not know anything about Florida.

Here is a recent case here

I would think the bar is also as high in FL judging by the way Judge S questioned KC today, asking her if she was happy with her council, did she fully understand what was happening, was she on any medication or drugs. I personally feel she is guilty by what I have seen in the doc dumps, but will freely admit that it is mostly circumstantial evidence and interpretation of behaviors that are not of the norm. If KC were to accept a plea and allocute, many people, myself included, wouldn't believe her anyway. She has told too many lies at this point so anything she says will be suspect and most likely doubted. It is for this reason that I am hoping for something solid. Something that removes any doubt about her guilt. But, unless this is in the FBI reports that were spoken of today, I haven't seen it, and a plea may be the best to hope for. MOO

 

[Curious Me]

How does Casey see her options. Will she be okay with LWOP, and little chance to appeal?

Defense has nothing, just RK's ex wife he was married to for a few months, but no evidence to support RK involvement. I call that scraping the bottom of the barrel. I thought defense seemed somewhat half-hearted today. Defense is dangling waiting while the State is confident. A Plea Deal LWOP could be on the way.

 

[JBean]

I would think the bar is also as high in FL judging by the way Judge S questioned KC today, asking her if she was happy with her council, did she fully understand what was happening, was she on any medication or drugs. I personally feel she is guilty by what I have seen in the doc dumps, but will freely admit that it is mostly circumstantial evidence and interpretation of behaviors that are not of the norm. If KC were to accept a plea and allocute, many people, myself included, wouldn't believe her anyway. She has told too many lies at this point so anything she says will be suspect and most likely doubted. It is for this reason that I am hoping for something solid. Something that removes any doubt about her guilt. But, unless this is in the FBI reports that were spoken of today, I haven't seen it, and a plea may be the best to hope for. MOO

I personally don't think there is any possibility of IAC in a plea agreement myself. i was just responding to the post that said in essence that all avenues are exhausted in a plea agreement.

I am of the mind that a plea will come into play in this case.As I said earleri i think the lack of a cause of death with medical certainty is a problem for first degree.

We have a local case here where the "murderer" fled the state, hid out,painted his car,disposed of the body,scrubbed his car out,changed the license plates and did not make himself available to authorities.
he was thankfully jailed in another state on a drug charge. he ultimately said that the 19 yo woman that he was the last one to be seen with overdosed on drugs and he dumped her in the ocean and left in a panic.
No one believes him, she was a bright college student and no history of drug abuse.While she may have done drugs, it was most certainly at his hand as it was an injectable.
But the state could not tie him to the "murder" as they did not even have a body.Afraid he would get off,they offered a plea deal. he pled to involuntary manslaughter and got FIVE years iin his plea deal. In this case, like you say, no one believes him and he actually sat with the parents and told them his "version" of the truth. It did not give them the closure they had hoped for,and they remain devastated by his presumed lies. They surely didn't like the deal, but hated the thought of him walking even more.

 

[cyberborg]

Casey, with the help of her brilliant legal team has no choice but to fight the charges at this point. The emphatic denials in the media of "my client is not guilty" kind of boxed in the damsel in distress.

Actually they can deny all they want up until the Jury reaches a verdict and, if the State is open to it -- still do a plea deal. It is a gamble as to whether a Juror is sympathetic to KC, e.g., anti-State and LE -- so the Defense can go .... Oh, never mind. KC pleads guilty.

It is a journey and they are currently exploring options, like RK to see if any breakthroughs occur and can do basically anything until trial and the Jury reaches a verdict.

 

[JBean]

Casey, with the help of her brilliant legal team has no choice but to fight the charges at this point. The emphatic denials in the media of "my client is not guilty" kind of boxed in the damsel in distress.

Well she may not be guilty of premeditated first degree murder in their opinion. IOW, they may say she is guilty of something else.So that would leave a plea deal wide open.

 

[ynotdivein]

I noticed allocution mentioned earlier and have some questions:

1. Is allocution a necessary part of any plea deal, or is it state by state? If she takes a plea in the murder trial, will she be forced to allocute? If so... gosh not sure how to phrase this but here goes:

2. Are allocutions accepted verbatim? Could she spin yet another story about what happened, leave us all with yet another mix of truth and fabrication as she has so often done? If some piece of her allocution defies logic or the State's evidence, does everyone just have to swallow hard and accept it?

3. Am I spelling this wrong, or should we add all forms of "allocute" to the WS spellchecker's brain? :innocent:

Many thanks in advance, Y

 

[chaingangal]

JBEAN
You are correct. After years of dealing with the Casey's of the world pleas to lesser included crimes are made everyday. (I was a little pooped out last night and not in great form) The fact is the possibilties are endless. Given the states budget problems and the cost of this going to trial, anything is possible at this point.

 

[chaingangal]

I stand corrected, with my thinking hat in hand. LOL

 

[Searchfortruth]

I would hate to see the state offer Casey anything but LWOP. I do feel the defense is entertaining the plea idea, and have been for quite a while now. I just hope the state has enough confidence, in this case, to stand their ground.

 

[Nikki 01]

Personally I'd be surprised if there was a deal. We know Casey is a self-serving individual and would not plea unless it benefits her. Say 20-25 years instead of LWOP or the death penalty. Even if the state offered such a deal I am not convinced she'd go for it because she is the type of person that believes her own lies and is delusional enough to think she will get off. Personally I believe she is no different than most prisoners. She (and her family) will insist on her innocence until she draws her last breath. Even after she is convicted and sentenced she'll be delusional enough to think she will get out on appeal like Scott Peterson.

I also don't think the state would offer a deal appealing enough to her in her mind. I'd be surprised if they were satisfied with anything less than LWOP.

 

[denjet]

she would not confess without having a plea in hand.imo.
Maybe the state will offer manslaughter and aggravated child abuse and she will get 40-60 years and have to give the details of what happened.
The state would get an assured conviction, she has no avenue for appeal (unless her representation proved to be completely inadequate), the state would save the cost of a trial, she would not be put to death, she would be in jail for a very long time and we would all find out what happened to Caylee.

If KC had to admit to her crime and got at least 40 years, I would have no problem with that ... but only if it's done soon ... and only if it was the complete truth, which I don't think she's capable of .. not with out making excuses or sugar coating how it happened ... like, if she said it was an accident or she lost her temper or says anything that contradicts the state's evidence ... I just think she has a lot of leeway to the story she'll tell if it's BEFORE it goes to trial ... once the evidence is presented and the case argued in court though and she decides at the last possible moment to plead guilty at the last possible moment (knowing the trial is going very badly for her), I don't think the state will be very generous ... her chance is now

My question is if she does plead guilty and makes a statement that's disingenuous (listen to me ... I sound like the A's), I meant to say if she LIES, does the judge have to accept it? Would she have to enter a written statement that satisfies the state first before going before the judge?

 

[Sassy Frog]

Personally I'd be surprised if there was a deal. We know Casey is a self-serving individual and would not plea unless it benefits her. Say 20-25 years instead of LWOP or the death penalty. Even if the state offered such a deal I am not convinced she'd go for it because she is the type of person that believes her own lies and is delusional enough to think she will get off. Personally I believe she is no different than most prisoners. She (and her family) will insist on her innocence until she draws her last breath. Even after she is convicted and sentenced she'll be delusional enough to think she will get out on appeal like Scott Peterson.

I also don't think the state would offer a deal appealing enough to her in her mind. I'd be surprised if they were satisfied with anything less than LWOP.

The problem with her getting 20 or 30 years is that most prisoners only serve about half of their sentence before they get out on parole. I don't think 10 or 15 years is enough for her.

 

[Just Jayla]

The problem with her getting 20 or 30 years is that most prisoners only serve about half of their sentence before they get out on parole. I don't think 10 or 15 years is enough for her.

Me either, at this juncture I want to see them pursue the DP. If there is an agreement, definately more than 10-15, and more than anything else, I would want to hear this foreign thing called THE TRUTH pass her lips.
For me, if the ultimate goal is justice for Caylee, then I want either Caylee's true story to be told, or I want KC to be punished harshly for refusing to tell it.

 

[kbl8201]

i cant see casey admitting anything. she lives in her own delusional little world where she thinks everyone will buy her nonsense, just like her parents did.

 

[nitasch]

I just listened to the JB interview outside the courthouse yesterday, he states NO WAY is she pleading in the murder case.

It really seems as though he feels it is a benefit to the defense that they entered a plea on the fraud case..... 'she wanted to plead guilty to what she did, but not to the things she did not do' (paraphrase). He really tries to get that point across in that interview...it does not make sense.....as if he believes a convicted felon has more credibility because she admitted guilt???

 

[kbl8201]

imo baez strange behavior and comments are gonna set up casey's death penalty appeals......

 

[nitasch]

imo baez strange behavior and comments are gonna set up casey's death penalty appeals......

Agreed

 

[debbie0604]

The problem with her getting 20 or 30 years is that most prisoners only serve about half of their sentence before they get out on parole. I don't think 10 or 15 years is enough for her.

I totally agree. I think the state has so much evidence against her that she could be put away for life.

I thought I heard Mr. Ashton say that LKB was working on trying to get more evidence released for the defense from the FBI. I thought I heard him tell JB to have her contact him and that he would try to work with her in getting the discovery evidence released to both of them. To my understanding, LKB is still working with the defense.

I hope there is more evidence that has not been released... and even if there isn't, I'm hoping that if there is a plea deal going on, that JB realizes that with the evidence against her now that she would be better off asking for life (instead of the needle), and not putting the state through a trial. Just get it over with, and get ready to make Lowell her new home.

 

[wonders]

If you know that your guilty, why wouldn't you take a plea deal?
Does KC just like that she has "visitors" where she is the center of attention?
Does KC just like to go to court for "a day out" type of thing?
Does KC even think far enough ahead to realize that she could be put to death?
Does KC realize that when the trial is over she will just fade away from the public eye?
Does KC realize that a LWOP means that she will be in GP and she wont be the center of attention after the novelty wears off?
If I were KC I'd be begging for the DP ASAP b-cuz I would be scared to death to be in GP.
Just my rambling thoughts. Do you wonder about these things too?

 

[Nikki 01]

The problem with her getting 20 or 30 years is that most prisoners only serve about half of their sentence before they get out on parole. I don't think 10 or 15 years is enough for her.

I completely agree and I don't think it will ever happen. I just think she is totally self-serving and wouldn't plea unless she benefits from it. Pleading to something like LWOP or even 50 years won't be a benefit in her mind since she is delusional enough to think she can get off.