As almost everyone knows, money buys justice in America. I posted on that subject here:
http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post433771

But the underlying problem is the adversarial nature of trial law, especially criminal law. Lawyers will bend over backwards to settle out of court. But, once a case goes to trial, the figure of merit isn't innocence or guilt, or even right or wrong--it's who wins and who loses. No holds barred.

Another is how politics drives trials. I am a lifelong scholar of the Rosenberg spy case--the "trial of the century" for the 20th century--and in that case, all three branches of the federal government actively conspired to put both defendants in the electric chair weeks before the trial opened. More recently, a friend who was the CEO of a Fortune 50 company was sentenced to 6 years for "insider trading." B.S.! The US Attorney, seeing his fellow prosecutors gain fame and fortune for convicting other CEO's, wanted his time in the spotlight.