The hypothetical deal James Tobin could still make to spill the beans in exchange for a lighter sentence shouldn’t be called a plea bargain.
During the trial, his lawyers were very cocky and I think they persuaded him that the jury would find him not guilty–no reason, they probably told him, to think of a plea bargain.
The lawyers’ current strategy to keep Tobin from flipping is appealing his conviction. I don’t think that appeal will succeed in anything except tying Tobin up in courts for the next few years. I’ll be curious to see which of the many ludicrous objections they threw at the judge they actually try to use.
BTW, Judge Steve McAuliffe was appointed to the federal bench by Bush Senior in 1992, six years after the death of his wife Christa McAuliffe in the Challenger disaster. Interestingly, another of the NH Bush Senior appointees, Judge DiClerico, recently made headlines and infuriated the current Bushies by declaring the NH parental notification law unconstitutional.
If Tobin were smart enough to realize that his RNC-paid attorneys are working for the RNC and not for him, he would run, not walk, to the prosecutor’s office and cut a deal tomorrow. Then the prosecutor would ask the judge to go easy on sentencing, and I think the judge would comply if Tobin has anything useful to spill.
(Sentencing is March 21, IIRC.)