A young lady participated in a robbery of a local store. She cased the place and called in co-defendants when the customers were out. The two co-defendants wielded weapons in the robbery; one held a knife to the neck of an employee and another fired a pistol at a car in the parking lot. Bad situation. All on camera.

Court-appointed counsel received an offer of 25 years in DOC (on an 85% charge). I was hired after that.

After reviewing the evidence and negotiating with the prosecutor for months my client was delighted to receive probation on the robbery charge and 7 years in DOC on a conspiracy charge (non-85%). She'll be free in about 28 months, maybe sooner, rather than the 20+ actual years she was looking at for being the third-wheel on a violent crime. If she remembers that she has a future and acts like it she can still look forward to great things; that wouldn't be possible with 25 years in DOC on the robbery charge.

I wish all my cases resulted in dismissals or acquittals, but that's not always possible, but the vast majority of cases can be negotiated to some degree even when trial is a bad idea.