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Majority of Texas criminal cases taken to trial in FY 2010 resulted in acquittal

Via Courtex, the Annual Report for the Texas Judiciary has been published for FY 2010 by the Office of Court Administration, covering the activities of the state's 3,378 elected and appointed judges. See the 86-page summary (pdf), from which I'll pull a few highlights.Majority of tried cases result in acquittals; 98% of cases plea bargainedOverall, 97.8% of convictions resulted from a guilty or nolo contendre plea, and less than 2% of criminal cases go to trial. That said, of the 4,060 cases taken all the way through trial to a verdict in 2010 (whether before a judge or a jury), 51.7% resulted in acquittals (see the chart, p. 45). According to the same report (pdf, p. 41) from last year, just 27.9% of tried cases resulted in acquittals in FY 2009...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 10, 2010 (boomark / email).