Trials have become an endangered species. A new effort is trying to change that
Advocates say defendants who go to trial face much longer prison sentences — a so-called trial penalty. It can even lead innocent people to strike plea deals.
Robert Rose made one of the most important decisions of his life in 1995.
Rose was on trial in New York for grabbing a gun away from his mother's boyfriend, then shooting and killing the man. Deep into the case, prosecutors offered him a plea deal. He followed advice from his lawyer and continued with the homicide trial.
"In the end, I was sentenced to 25 years to life instead of the three to nine years that I was offered," Rose remembered recently in an interview from his home in New York. "And I guess my not wanting to take a plea frustrated
