People obviously don't understand what a plea bargain is. I'll summarize. A man is accused of trying to kill his girlfriend by setting her house on fire. He's charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, burglary, trespass, arson, and malicious burning. He's arrested and can't make bail so he sits in jail for six months. The gov knows they won't be able to convict him of attempted murder because it would be nearly impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew she was home at the time. They could try him on the other top charges but the gov likes to keep their 97 percent conviction rates intact. With the guy already having spent six months in the can, which is about the same amount of time he'd have spent if he was found guilty of arson, the gov let's him plead out to one count of malicious burning, gets their conviction, puts the guy on five years probation and let's him walk with time served.
It doesn't mean he didn't try to kill his girlfriend by burning down her house while she slept. It just means that the gov has too many cases to try every single one and if they're satisfied with the outcome, they will let people plead out. The gov makes offers every day and most people take them.
The gov made Hide an offer he couldn't refuse. He rotted in jail for two months which is no cakewalk considering guys get popped with drugs at tijuana border everyday and walk free. Hide did his time, the gov got him in the system and now INS decides what to do.
