For those asking in DM's:

A settlement hearing is when the Prosecution (by mandate) sets up a meeting with Defense in order to try to bargain about plea using strengths/weaknesses of the case.

In reality, it is the Prosecution trying to avoid a trial, which are costly and rare.

Having reviewed the case, Prosecution will make an offer, usually reduction or dismissal of charges. This is why they are incentivized to overcharge nearly everyone. It's a literal preemptive hi-ball and they are in no way accountable for overblown charges because of immunity.

This obviously lopsided system results in 98% of all criminal cases ending in plea bargains, because it would be impossible to take even a fraction of all cases to trial.

They rely on intimidating us into accepting Guilty pleas with threats of, oh, I dunno, 6 years in prison.

Also: lawyers are too costly for most of us. That's our mockery of a justice system.

So today, prosecution will make me an offer, and I will either accept their terms, refuse and counteroffer, or I tell them to blow it out their prosecutorially-immune asses and we go to trial.

Lastly: If the charges are clearly found to be overblown and even the judge thinks so, there will be no restitution or recourse for my legally-caused financial ruin, my year of impaired living, the time I spent in jail, or professional opportunities lost.

They just go, "eh, nm"

In the plainest language:

PROSECUTORS CAN CHARGE YOU WITH WHATEVER THEY WANT

which can result in you being jailed, exorbitant bail & more, and even if the judge says "that case is trash" and the charges drop, prosecutors face NO consequence for their deliberate malfeasance.

In this thread I said "Prosecution offers a deal" but that is not generally the case, though it is at times. I meant *Defense* usually offers a deal first.