Today the Executive Director of Balanced Justice Network announced it sent documented evidence to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle.

PEMBROKE PINES, FLORIDA, USA, October 31, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today evidence of a 5-year plea offer made 22 years ago was sent to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle by the Executive Director of Balanced Justice Network - Changing the System.

“I believe offering proof of the plea offer made 22 years ago is important in engaging in a constructive and productive manner with the Miami-Dade State Attorney,” stated Evelyn Castillo-Bach, the founder and Executive Director of Balanced Justice Network. It was her son, Mitchell E. Finlay, who in 2001 declined a 5-year plea deal believing that innocent people don’t take plea deals.

“There is no interest in relitigating the case. Rather, our interest is in persuading the Miami-Dade State Attorney that Mitchell is deserving of a second chance,” elaborated Castillo-Bach who added, "Mitchell has now served 440% longer than the original plea offer stated he deserved in prison."

Second Chances Matter is seen by Castillo-Bach as critically important in returning balance to the criminal justice system. "When one is offered a plea deal of a few years, chooses to go to trial and ends up with an extreme sentence, it undermines the integrity of the criminal system,” asserts Castillo-Bach.

As reported in the 2023 Plea Bargain Task Force Report: American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section:

"In general while some difference between the sentence offered prior to trial and the sentence received after trial is permissible, a substantial difference undermines the integrity of the criminal system and reflects a penalty for exercising one's right to trial. This differential, often referred to as the trial penalty, should be eliminated."

On the website for Balanced Justice Network anyone can listen to podcast episodes from Mitchell E. Finlay. "These podcast episodes are a window into the integrity and goodness of a human being who deserves a second chance," stated Castillo-Bach.

The Balanced Justice Network website also gives a concise summary on the case and includes a link to the last legal brief filed by Finlay's appellate attorney Richard C. Klugh.

On November 13, 2015, appellate attorney Richard C. Klugh filed an appeal to the Life sentence in THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, THIRD DISTRICT, CASE NO.: 3D15-1249, MITCHELL FINLAY, Appellant,-vs-STATE OF FLORIDA. APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE  ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR DADE COUNTY.

A video by Castillo-Bach posted on YouTube also appears on the website.

Evelyn Castillo-Bach
Balanced Justice Network - Changing The System
info@balancedjusticenetwork.org
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Prosecutors Offered a 5-year Plea Deal. Got Life.

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