| we believe it was hung over his head to extort a | plea deal, while remaining a real possibility All you have to go by are public statements/press releases

| we believe it was hung over his head to extort a | plea deal, while remaining a real possibility All you have to go by are public statements/press releases though. All of the private communications between Aaron (and his lawyers) and the prosecution are relevant here. It sounds like, while quoting 'up to' numbers in public, they were telling his defence that they planned to seek 6-7 years at trial (without a plea bargain). Obviously this wasn't something they were bound to (they could change their mind and seek maximum penalties at trial). That said, if they were telling him behind closed doors that they would seek 6-7 years, I don't think we can claim that they were holding the possible 35 year sentence over his head. As others have said in other discussions, if a judge had ignored the prosecutor and thrown the maximum sentence at him, it would almost certainly be overturned on appeal (max. penalties for a first time offender are almost always overturned on appeal). I think one of the biggest factors was that he was facing a possible $1+ million trial with no funds to pay for it. Also, 6-7 years in prison isn't anything to laugh at.