U.S. COURT UPHOLDS PLEA BARGAINING

DENVER (AP) In a decision prosecutors describe as vital for criminal
justice in America, a federal appeals court has ruled that plea
bargains can be offered in exchange for testimony, reversing a
decision that had declared the practice illegal.

The full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that immunity
deals and lesser sentences offered for the testimony of witnesses did
not violate federal laws against bribery.

"It's a great day for federal prosecutors across this nation," said
Linda McMahan, U.S. Attorney for Colorado. "We are delighted with the
10th Circuit's opinion ... prosecutors are not violating the law or
acting unethically when they engage in such a practice."

Last summer, a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit shocked the
Justice Department when it declared plea-bargained testimony to be
illegal.

Prosecutors believe deals offering leniency to witnesses who testify
in criminal cases are essential in bringing down organized crime
leaders, drug lords and other high-profile criminals.

Defense lawyers contend the deals are tantamount to buying testimony
and argue that there are other ways witnesses can help
prosecutors.

The panel's ruling was put on hold until the full Denver-based appeals
court could review the issue.

In its opinion Friday, the majority wrote that Congress has long known
of the widespread practice. Had Congress intended to forbid such plea
bargains, the court reasoned, "it would have done so in clear,
unmistakable and unarguable language."

The three judges who made the earlier ruling dissented from Friday's
majority ruling.

"Since the (three-judge) panel issued its opinion in this case,
prosecutors from coast to coast have attempted to portray it as the
death knell for the criminal justice system as we know it.

"But experience has proven that the government, just like the private
citizens it regulates and prosecutes, can live within the rules,"
wrote judge Paul J. Kelly Jr. in his dissent.

The case centered on the Kansas conviction of Sonya Singleton on
charges of cocaine trafficking and money laundering. The three judges
said the chief prosecution witness illegally received leniency in
exchange for his testimony, violating the law against bribing witnesses.

In his original ruling, Kelly said prosecutors had to abide by the
same rules that apply to others.

"If justice is perverted when a criminal defendant seeks to buy
testimony from a witness, it is no less perverted when the government
does so," he wrote.

The Justice Department said the practice was common, noting that
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were convicted in the Oklahoma City
bombing based on testimony from a former friend who struck a deal.

The three judges had ordered a new trial for Singleton and said
Congress should rewrite anti-bribery laws if legislators believe
prosecutors should be exempt.

Lawyers scrambled to delay other cases affected by the ruling, but
most did not expect it to stand. If the full 10th Circuit did not
overturn it, they said Congress would likely have amended the law.