I've had the pleasure of speaking to a couple of prosecutors and am in law school right now. They definitely try to get plea bargains, but it is more a matter

I've had the pleasure of speaking to a couple of prosecutors and am in law school right now. They definitely try to get plea bargains, but it is more a matter of effeciency. In any place with a remotely high population density, a prosecutor normally has more cases lined up than they can really do justice for and many more that they are deliberately choosing not to go forward with at all, not because they don't have plenty of evidence, but because they are focusing on the more significant cases. Getting a plea bargain is simply much faster for the prosecutor and much cheaper for the government than a full trial.