The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "plea bargains" ...
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Assault victim's tweets prompt contempt case
For 17-year-old Savannah Dietrich, it was like being victimized twice – first by the two boys who sexually assaulted her while she was passed out and then sent photos of the assault to their friends; secondly, by a secretive juvenile justice system that appeared more interested in protecting her attackers than her. Frustrated by what she felt was a lenient plea bargain for her two attackers, Savannah lashed out on Twitter – despite a judge’s warning that no one should talk about the incident because the case was in juvenile court. "There you go, lock me up," Savannah tweeted, as she named the boys who she said sexually assaulted her. "I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell." Though threatened with contempt of court, Savannah refusal to stay quiet, and her decision to talk publicly to Courier-Journal reporter Jason Riley resulted in a series of stories that drew national attention and helped pry the lid off Kentucky’s secretive juvenile courts – potentially opening more cases in the future to ensure justice is done.
Tags: Sexual assults; juvenile justice system; juvenile court; Twitter
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Bad Detective
In Orange County, incarcerated defendants representing themselves in court had no choice but to hire one well-connected private investigator who mostly just pressured them to take deals offered by prosecutors. In at least one case, the investigator blackmailed an inmate to accept a plea deal.
Tags: courts; private investigator; blackmail; plea bargain; law enforcement
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Crossing the Line
"We're coming after you." That was the Houston Police Chief's message to thieves when he launched the elite, $5 million a year Crime Reduction Unit. The problem? Some of the department's own officers alleged "we're coming after you" meant violating citizens' rights and search and seizure laws to build flimsy cases and rack up arrest numbers that ultimately did little to fight crime. KHOU-TV identified how CRU officers routinely stopped, handcuffed and interrogated citizens for petty infractions such as jaywalking or riding a bicycle without a light. The vast majority of the time these citizens were let go, but if police did make an arrest, it was usually for trace levels of drugs, which often resulted in plea bargain prosecutions for minimal jail sentences. One veteran defense attorney described the CRU as nothing more than "a mill to get convictions."
Tags: Houston; Texas; law enforcement; arrest; Texas Public Information Act; Crime Reduction Unit
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Letters from an Arsonist
"This story chronicled the rampage of Thomas Sweatt, a serial arsonist who was arrested in April 2005 and later admitted to setting a string of fires that terrorized the Washington area for years...Jamieson not only nailed down a startling psychological profile of the man, but also uncovered the extent of Sweatt's destruction -- he had set hundreds of fires stretching over more than two decades."
Tags: crime; arson; murder; letters; psychological profile; plea bargain; fire
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A Defective System
In the Kansas City Municipal Court, drivers who had committed offenses including "DUI, fleeing police, racing on city streets and speeding" were allowed to plea-bargain their offenses down to the much more minor "defective-equipment" violation. In some cases, drivers were obtaining up to five of these plea bargain deals in a year. The more serious offenses never showed up on drivers' records, and while these individuals avoided the hike in insurance rates that would have come with their violations, insurance company spokesmen informed the K.C. Star that everyone's rates were thus "being increased slightly to cover this uninsured risk created by the plea bargains."
Tags: DUI; moving violations; plea bargains; Kansas City Municipal Court; "defective-equipment" citation"; insurance rates; insurance rate hikes
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Gone Forever: A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder
Susan McFarland was reported missing in November, 2002. Her charred, decomposed body was found 53 days after her disappearance, and investigators suspected her husband Richard McFarland. He maintained his innocence as circumstantial evidence mounted, but finally admitted his guilt on the first day of jury selection. Author Diane Fanning examines the months leading up to the crime, and delves into information about Richard and the details of the police investigation.
Tags: Murder; domestic violence; missing persons; jury trials; plea bargains; murder confessions; non-fiction book
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Life and Death
This analysis of Ohio's capital punishment system looked at 1900 crimes that were potentially capital crimes. It found that offenders who killed whites were twice as likely to be sentenced to death as those who killed blacks; that more than half of capital cases ended with plea bargains; and that the possibility of a death sentence varied depending on where the crime was committed. It also discovered numerous errors in the state's collection of death penalty data.
Tags: death penalty; capital punishment; law enforcement; crime; murder; criminal justice system; plea bargains; capital crimes; Ohio
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Guess Who's Not Going to Jail
The Austin Chronicle uncovers shocking disparity in how whites and blacks are treated and prosecuted for their crimes in Williamson County. This observation is reinforced by the cases of drug dealers: two white men found with more than 200 grams of meth were fined and sent to prison for less than 6 months, while several blacks in possession of less than 45 grams of crack were sentenced to 15 months to life.
Tags: jail; prison; white; black; race; racism; plea bargain; crime; sentence; FOIA; drug; methamphetamine; crack; NAACP
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Prescription for Pain
The stories demonstrated that Eastern Kentucky led the nation in the distribution of prescription narcotics-much of it illegal. Reporters found a series of unlikely accomplices to the illegal trafficing including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Local cops were corrupt or compromised and a $30 million federal enforcement effort was rendered ineffective by a lack of cooperation among the police agencies involved. The reports found an elected judge who admitted that he'd had private business dealings with rug dealers and was unilaterally lowering drug offenders' sentences set by plea bargains. The reporters also found that effecive drug treatment was hard to find in rural areas of Kentucky. The newspaper also produced an examination of how OxyContin was marketed through "detailing," the practice of sending sales men directly into doctor's offices. The reporting also took readers inside one local drug ring. Finally, the newspaper examined how public Medicaid payments were providing some rural Kentucy drug dealsers with millions of silent partners-U.S. taxpayers- who were helping to ensure their supply.
Tags: prescription narcotis; illegal trafficking; federal Drug Enforcement Administration; OxyContin; painkillers; FBI; methanphetamine; taxpayers; medicaid; substance abuse; rural Kentucky; Social Security Administrationn; drug traffickers; drug abuse; lortab; tylox; xanax; cocaine; marijuana; Lee County Sheriff's Department; Beattyville; Beattyville Police; Operation Grinch; Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program; HIDTA; Kentucky State Police; Office of National Drug Control Policy
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Deals and Dismissals
The News reports on how a system of plea deals at the Buffalo City Court has resulted in ill-advised bargaining and few serious convictions. In two years, the report says, the court has made itself out to be one of deals and dismissals, where defendents are far less likely to leave with a misdemeanor conviction. Some statistics will help: nearly three-fourths of those who walk into this court facing criminar charges walk out without a criminal record. Furthermore, the most common sentence for even those who are convicted with severe penalities is a conditional discharge - stay out of trouble for an year and follow court instructions, then there are no punishments.
Tags: Erie County District; State Division of Criminal Justice Services; VOICE-Buffalo; judges; court