The "trial tax": enhanced penalty for not taking a plea.

[KBCraig]

http://articles.philly.com/2012-02-07/news/31034299_1_federal-prison-mandatory-minimum-laws-mandatory-prison-terms

Not a sympathetic defendant; he admitted armed robbery of a dozen convenience stores. In state court he faced 10-20 years, but the feds picked up his case and offered him a plea bargain of 25 years. He asked for a jury trial, where he was found guilty and sentenced to the mandatory minimum: 232 years. No parole is possible.

"I do not think of it as a trial penalty," said U.S. Attorney Zane D. Memeger...

"You have to make a decision. It's not my fault if you make a bad decision," Memeger said.

Want to take advantage of your right to a jury trial? That's just a "bad decision", not an extra penalty.

[Jim Johnson]

I received an extra 22 days in jail for wanting a jury trial; not to mention all the extra time I had to deal with court assholes.

[Pat K]

 The state will use the tactic of turning your case over to the feds
if they think theirs isn't strong enough, if you don't plea deal with them.

[Free libertarian]

Patricia Smith was offered alot nicer "plea deal" than what she was eventually sentenced to by the State.  The Feds didn't offer her any deals when they stole her house.  No wait, they "let" her buy it back below market...for "only" $51,000....I stand corrected.   

[KBCraig]

This is why innocent people plead guilty.

[Russell Kanning]

I guess since the system is rigged against you .... the trail is not any better.

I can definitely see how in Jim's case he was separated out for asking for the jury trial.

And like you said ... the sentence was added onto all the trips to the court and such.

I can see that the system doesn't like trials, doesn't like jurors hearing most things, and really hates it when you don't have a lawyer. They try to discourage all of this through various penalties.