Hi, @LindseyGrahamSC. Public defender here. You seem concerned about due process. Please then consider repealing mandatory minimum sentences. They make the risk of trial so great that 95% of convictions come from pleas. No confrontation. No witnesses. No challenging accusations.
@LindseyGrahamSC Mandatory minimum sentences haven't just eroded the right to jury trial. Prosecutors also use them to coerce pleas before hearings challenging police misconduct. Insulate police from accountability. Send the message: Continue violating peoples' rights.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/opi…
@LindseyGrahamSC While you're at it, @LindseyGrahamSC. Can you please take a look into pretrial detention? There are 40k people or so detained pretrial in federal custody. They're held, presumed innocent, many on bail they can't possibly afford. Due process demands you act. Thanks.
@LindseyGrahamSC Another due process issue for you, @LindseyGrahamSC: There are appx 1k people detained in federal jails on "material witness orders." Did no wrong. Witnessed a crime &/or victims of crime. Jailed until they testify. Do you think people should be jailed for refusing to testify?
@LindseyGrahamSC I have to head home. If any one else has ideas on other due process issues @LindseyGrahamSC should be paying attention to and could act on in his position as US Senator, given his obvious, avid interest in the constitutional requirement, please reply and I'll boost up. Thanks.
