Sometimes you just have to weigh your risk/reward. When I was 27, three guys, (17, 17, and 18) filled me home, broke in, and raped me at gunpoint. They also strangled me until I loss consciousness, and stole my car out of my driveway. I think it may have been some kind of gang initiation because they were from a really bad part of town. I had 5 guns in my house and I know how to use them, but I was overpowered from the second they walked in my house. BEcause of the gun to my head I was never sure if one of them had actually raped me or not, because I never turned around to look at who was behind me. I was sure that two of them had. Legally it didn’t matter because if you are involved in a crime and don’t try to stop it you are guilty of the same crime. It took 3 years for the trial to make it to the front of the docket. 6 weeks before the trial, the guy who I wasn’t sure about, came to the DA and told him the same story as me. He of course said he didn’t rape me. Even though I felt he would have been convicted, I never felt 100% ok with him serving a life sentence if he had not actually raped me. I KNew he didn’t beat me, and he looked remorseful all of the times I saw him in court for pre trials, while the other two would constantly mean mug me and lick their lips at me. I decided to have him testify and take away the rape charge. He still had several other charges including home invasion, aggravated burglary, car theft… The DA never told me the results of the forensic dna so I knew it was possible that only my testimony would convict them. In the end the 2 other guys were convicted and are serving life sentences with no parole. The guy who testified was sentenced with time served. Turns out his DNA was on my underwear.
Point is… I knew the other two were evil, and I knew what they had done. I’ll probably never know if the guy who got the deal actually raped me or not, but I think I made the right decision because for 1: the other two are evil and would have hurt someone else for sure, and 2: if he would have got a life sentence I may feel guilty about it for the rest of my life.
Was it the right choice? I’ll never know for sure.
But I will never say it wasn’t worth giving him the deal because the other two guys were so much worse than him.