Let's stop and contemplate what might have happened, had Brown been forced into submission by these prosecutors <i>prior</i> to this decision. Why do they leave bogus charges sitting out there until just before the trial? Leverage, of course.<p>If there isn't some sort of legal standard of fairness involved, there ought to be. The prosecution shouldn't be able to fabricate charges against a defendant for the purposes of gaining leverage in pre-trial negotiations. A court <i>can and should</i> take this kind of behavior into account and simply <i>subtract</i> the potential sentences of the "excess" charges away from whatever is left.<p>And sanction the prosecution for...well, something.
He should plead <i>not guilty</i> for the other two, too. People who are obviously persecuted by the government like this (and like Aaron Swartz, etc), should call the prosecutor's bluff, and not take the "generous" plea deals they offer after they try to imprison them for decades or a century for trivial things or nonsense charges.