A second former Memphis police officer changed his plea to guilty on Friday in connection to alleged civil rights violations that ended in the beating death of Tyre Nichols.

A change of plea for former officer Emmitt Martin was entered in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Mark Norris, records showed.

Back in November, another former Memphis officer, Desmond Mills Jr., changed his plea to guilty to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice. The defendant agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and face up to 15 years behind bars.

  • credo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I had to know, so I asked the AI why someone would plead guilty:

    Pleading guilty when charged with a serious crime can have several potential benefits, though it often depends on the specific circumstances of the case and the legal strategy. Here are some of the main benefits:

    1. Reduced Sentencing: In many cases, pleading guilty can lead to a reduced sentence. This might be the result of a plea bargain where the prosecution agrees to recommend a lighter sentence or drop some charges in exchange for the guilty plea.

    2. Avoiding a Lengthy Trial: Trials, especially for serious crimes, can be lengthy, expensive, and emotionally draining. By pleading guilty, the defendant can avoid the uncertainty of a trial and possibly a harsher outcome if convicted.

    3. Mitigation of Consequences: A guilty plea might be seen by the judge as a sign of remorse or acceptance of responsibility, which could result in more lenient sentencing. The court may take into account that the defendant is saving resources and the emotional toll on victims by not going to trial.

    4. Potential for Probation or Alternative Sentencing: Depending on the crime and jurisdiction, a guilty plea may open the door to probation, community service, or other alternatives to incarceration that might not be available if the defendant is convicted at trial.

    5. Certainty of Outcome: Pleading guilty provides the defendant with a certain outcome. Trials can be unpredictable, and even strong cases can have unexpected results. By pleading guilty, the defendant knows what the sentence will be (or at least the likely range if not part of a plea deal).

    6. Preservation of Relationships: A guilty plea can sometimes preserve relationships by avoiding a public trial where more damaging evidence and details could come to light, which might strain relationships with family, friends, or business associates.

    7. Potential Impact on Co-Defendants: In cases with multiple defendants, a guilty plea might benefit others involved, such as receiving lighter sentences or having charges against them dropped as part of a broader plea agreement.

    8. Expedited Process: The criminal justice process can be slow, and a trial can drag on for months or even years. A guilty plea can expedite the process, leading to quicker resolution and allowing the defendant to begin serving their sentence and eventually move on with their life.

    However, it’s important to note that pleading guilty is a significant decision and should be made after careful consideration and consultation with a legal professional, as it involves waiving the right to a trial and the possibility of being found not guilty.

    • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I had to know

      Okay, respectable

      so I asked the AI

      loud buzzer noise

      You have just been fed a complete fabrication that may or may not contain any factual information whatsoever. You have not asked a legal expert, or even a felon, you have asked the aggregate average of every person on the internet what their opinion is about pleading guilty, and this opinion was delivered to you by a word salad dispenser that has no idea what it is telling you. Do not take AI delivered information as fact. I repeat, Do not take AI delivered information as fact. AI will lie to you, boldly and confidently, about things that are obviously false. It will never tell you the truth because it does not know what the truth is. It may tell you the truth by accident, but it will never take pains to make sure it does so, and will freely and cheerfully invent BS information to fill in gaps.

      • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Is there anything in this AI response specifically that you have a problem with, or is this just a blanket response to all AI content?

        • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Blanket response, really, although that’s a fair question because as far as I can tell this particular blurb sounds pretty sane. But I am not in any fashion an expert on this matter, being neither a lawyer nor a felon, so therefore neither I nor the OP knows if that’s actually true.

          Asking an AI anything is going to give you a response that is neither true nor false but hovers in an electron cloud like probability of being true, such that to actually make use of this information you’d need to do your own follow up research on it anyway. So just do the research in the first place. It’s always a useless answer because AI is an actor that inherently cannot be trusted, it has no problem lying to you because it literally doesn’t understand the difference between truth and falsehood. All it knows is patterns. If enough people get on the internet and tell everyone the world really is flat, Google’s AI assistant will start telling you that too.

          • enkers@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            It’s always a useless answer because AI is an actor that inherently cannot be trusted, it has no problem lying to you because it literally doesn’t understand the difference between truth and falsehood.

            And the same should be applied to reading social media comments as well. Most people are willing to talk out of their ass about subjects they don’t thoroughly understand. That doesn’t mean all social media comments are useless, though. It just means you have to critically evaluate what you read.

            Same with LLM’s. They can provide useful information about and overviews of various topics, but it’s important to understand their limitations and especially that they’re prone to hallucinations. They shouldn’t be used as any sort of authority on a subject, but make for a decent starting point.

          • meco03211@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            To be fair there were only like 3 different answers in that list of 8. Most were some form of reduced sentencing/punishment and quicker result/trial/process.

    • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      These fucks are on tape torturing and beating an innocent man to death 80 ft from his and his mothers home, while he begged for his mother to help him.

      After they brutally beat him, which included hitting him in the head with batons and this asshole taking a kick to his face as he was held up against his will, they left him to gurgle and die, slumped up against a car while providing no aid at all. No one put him on a stretcher for 26 minutes after they beat him, not even the paramedic that showed up and instead chatted with the cops. He later died from the head trauma they caused.

      This motherfucker pleaded guilty because he was guilty. Ideally, he will be locked in a dark cage forever to relive what he did to that innocent man.

      • 474D@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        He may also have plead guilty because he doesn’t want other dirt that he’s done to be unearthed in a full investigation

      • tyler@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        LegalEagle has said many times, no matter how guilty you are, you most likely should never plead guilty, so I’m gonna guess that no, he didn’t plead guilty because he was guilty. He did it for other reasons. And guess what? The reason is listed in the article. For a reduced sentence.