Trial or deal? Some driven to plead guilty, later exonerated

Risk spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted by a California jury or plead guilty and be released in two years.

Ochoa, then 20 and on probation for drug possession, had already rejected two plea offers and wanted to prove his innocence.

The registry is maintained by the University of Michigan Law School using public information, such as court documents and news articles.

Critics say the numbers reflect an overwhelmed criminal justice system with public defenders who have more cases than they can handle and expedience on the part of court officials, who can save the government money with plea bargains compared with costly trials.

In the 1970s and 1980s, state and federal lawmakers reacted to rising crime rates by imposing mandatory minimums and other sentencing laws to crack down on felons.

Last year, more than 97 percent of criminal defendants sentenced in federal court pleaded guilty compared with about 85 percent more than 30 years ago, according to data collected by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

No entity gathers statistics for all state courts, but prosecutors, defense attorneys and law professors say they have also seen more cases at that level resolved by guilty pleas and fewer cases going to trial.

An officer for the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board initially recommended that Ochoa not receive any money for his imprisonment, saying Ochoa contributed to his erroneous conviction by pleaded guilty.

Many were cleared of wrongdoing by taking a new look at DNA evidence in blood or other body fluids, according to the University of Michigan database.

Some were the victims of prosecutorial misconduct, while shoddy police work was to blame in other cases — such as a mistaken FBI hair analysis or falsified fingerprint evidence.

The victims had sued the federal government because the molester, a wealthy and well-connected financier, was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges without the victims' advance knowledge.