" Once again plea bargains. We will read these same names again in 6 months to a year for doing something else. Slap them with a couple years of hard time and they may think twice. Our Judges are lazy and it is just to easy for them to accept a plea bargain and get it over with. "

" I agree there are to many plea bargains, but did you read the parts: "A judge convicted a Mattoon man of lying to police", and "In other cases in court recently, guilty pleas were entered by:" Some of are judges are doing there job, and some are not. "

" I'm always amazed that people criticise the verdicts of various court cases when they weren't there and can't possibly know all of the evidence, or circumstances surrounding a particular case. "

" If my numbers are not wrong here there were about 6 decisions made in this article. Two were judgements, one was to set a date for a future trial and 3 were plea bargained. So it is about a 50/50 chance that guilty criminals will get a smaller sentence through plea bargaining. Looks like the criminals are beating the justice system. Just a few weeks ago there was a list like this and the numbers were similar. A pattern has been set and the criminals know it. First they know they might not be caught but if they do it will only be half as bad as it could be. "

" Kindof ironic that one guy could face 1-3 years in prison for lying to the police while all of the more serious charges he was found NOT GUILTY. Is there an actual law on the books that says it is illegal to lie to the PO PO? I would like to read that law. You are not under oath when the police are questioning you. Please enlighten me someone. Steve? Todd? "

" A felony burglary charge that accused Weber of entering the building planning to steal was dismissed,

Any relation to the Weber that is county sheriff? Wouldn't suprise me any. Same ole same ole in coles county. "

" I can't believe that the guy convicted of property damage didn't get hard time. He should rot in prison! "

" Texas T-- Illinois law makes lying to a sworn police officer a criminal offense. You can read the statute yourself. (720 ILCS 5/31-4(a). "

" Even the pleas however, unlike others, were all guilty pleas not the normal out of court agreement with no verdict. That means it still is on their record. Judges also here a lot more cases than what is reported here in the paper too. This is just one judge on that day. "

" Lie to the police and you go to jail. Lie to the American people and you're reelected president. "

" Nationally, over 75 percent of all cases going to court end up with some sort of a pleas bargain. In federal court, a plea bargain will automatically get you a lesser sentence, so I would imagine the percentage is even higher there. Should Coles county be expected to be any different? In addition to not having a clue as to how the system works, I think some people are being a little over critical of our local court system.

I would ask the question to those who think the answer to solving the local problems is to elect a notorious ambulance chaser with questionable ethics: Does he usually go for a plea with his clients? I think we all know the answer to that one. LOL! "

" I am not saying anyone on here is right or wrong, but I always thought admitting to doing something wrong was the right thing to do. And I think I'd rather have someone plead guilty and get a sentence of some kind than not guilty, go to an expensive jury trial, and then be found not guilty on some technicality.

I know I don't know a lot about how this works, but I figure it has to be a heck of a lot cheaper to have a person plead guilty than to take every single charge filed in Coles County to a full-blown jury trial.

We are always complaining about how high our taxes are, I wonder how much a jury trial costs? I figure if we multiply that by however many felonies and misdemeanors that are filed in the county each year, the number would be huge and our taxes would surely go up to cover that cost. Not to mention the extra State's Attorney's we would have to hire. Also, for each of the 12 jurors for all of those jury trials the taxpayers have to pay them something for going...lunch or gas I think.

I guess as long as every guilty conviction (admitted or not) makes the next time they screw up have a stiffer sentence, it could work. But they HAVE to get harsher penalties to make that work. "

" Wow, talk about synchronicity, I was getting ready to post something very similar in response to Texas T's comment about lying, TQ. I suppose that would have resulted in a comment from old many names, now calling himself RushBaby, that you and I are one in the same. LOL! If they put the same standards for telling the truth on presidents, Bush would still be in jail for all the whoppers he and his chief handler, Cheney have told over the last 7 and a half years. "

" Oh come on, let's get some real judges in already. We also know so many people who had DUI's whom are on the streets driving without a license or insurance. Let's get crackin' here in Stoneage Coles County! "

" Actually, I talk a lot about synchronicity, Harry. Maybe we ARE the same person. LOL. "

" I whole heartly agree with "the question". Slick willie lied when he said I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT GIRL. And then the dim witted American idiots reelected the worst president in American history. "

" And then the dim witted American idiots reelected the worst president in American history.

I agree with you, we did reelect the worst president in history, George Bush. LOL! "