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Originally Posted by Derek S
This explains it pretty well.
Basically to ensure convictions prosecutors are accepting guilty pleas to lesser charges rather than risk people getting away with it. It also has the added bonus of keeping the murder level down and not clogging up jails for long times with people. Why keep them in for 12-15 years when they can be out in 4 or 5.
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Hard choice, risk letting someone who's caused the death of another person get off, or have them put away for a shorter term, but still put away.
I can see in this case that a murder conviction would have been quite hard to get, as a group was involved, so while they contributed to the death, it's hard to say if the actions of each individual amounted to murder.