Sanchez Plea
The Oct. 5 article on the attempt of Vincent Sanchez to plead guilty to murder may have misled the reader.
The article suggests that Mr. Sanchez offered to plead guilty to second-degree murder in order to avoid trial on first-degree allegations and special circumstances that would have rendered him eligible for the death penalty.
This is not the case.
Mr. Sanchez was willing to plead guilty to murder with no degree specified, with the express understanding that he could still be tried on the remaining murder allegations which, if proven, would subject him to a first-degree murder conviction and potential death sentence.
The distinction is significant.
One might applaud the refusal of a prosecutor to “plea-bargain” a serious murder case.
But if there was no “bargain” involved, and the prosecutor was free to attempt to prove the remaining allegations at trial, one might question why the guilty plea was rejected.
NEIL B. QUINN
Chief deputy public defender,
attorney for Vincent Sanchez
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