He was indeed facing a long prison sentence if he chose to defend himself and rewarding people for pleading guilty makes no sense. You aren't accepting responsi

He was indeed facing a long prison sentence if he chose to defend himself and rewarding people for pleading guilty makes no sense. You aren't accepting responsibility you are literally making a self serving bet that you will probably lose your case and thereby serve a lesser sentence by taking a plea. Unfortunately innocent people make that same calculation and sometimes accept a short sentence rather than fearing a sentence that represents basically an end to their normal life. If you are innocent or believe as is in fact the case here that the governments position is legally incorrect you shouldn't face punishment for arguing that in front of a judge. For innocent people whom are inevitably convicted every day in any justice system this represents a punishment for asserting innocence. The fact that you think this is normal is just a sign that our entire society is itself abnormal and broken.