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ACLU Sues County Attorney Allister Adel for Coercive Plea Policy

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel alleging that her office illegally coerces defendants to accept pre-trial convictions through plea deals. According to the complaint, which was filed today in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, the Maricopa County Attorney s Office has a standing policy of threatening every single person they charge in certain pre-trial court proceedings with substantially harsher plea offers when defendants request preliminary hearings and try to take their case to trial. The filing alleges that prosecutors frequently issue the threat at the top of their initial written plea deal offer and read it into the record at status conferences in front of judges.

Maricopa County Accused of Threatening Defendants Into Waiving Due Process Rights

Maricopa County Accused of Threatening Defendants Into Waiving Due Process Rights The class says the county is pressuring criminal defendants to waive their rights to a preliminary hearing in order to clear a case backlog. (CN) Arizona s Maricopa County Early Disposition Courts process more than 32,000 criminal complaints each year. And according to a class action filed Wednesday, in order to process more cases faster the county attorney’s office threatens criminal defendants with more severe sentences to coerce them into waiving their right to a preliminary hearing. “Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has sabotaged the intended purpose of the Early Disposition Courts and has used it to their advantage to secure quick convictions without regard for the constitutional rights of people who are accused of crimes,” said Jared Keenan, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Arizona in a statement.

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