What is the effect of the Court of Appeal's interpretation of the doctrine of reasonable doubt on minor criminal charges?

The majority's interpretation probably will make the prosecutors' job easier. The government, in complex cases, could, if it wished, charge and prosecute defendants on easily provable offenses without having to prove beyond a reasonable doubt more serious offenses or charges where there appears to be a lack of sufficient proof. There is some incentive to do this because, under the majority's holding, the government need only convict the defendant of one count to punish him or her for all related criminal behavior proved by a preponderance of the evidence. Moreover, the government could, for example, reach plea agreements with criminal defendants on minor charges in exchange for dropping all other counts, and then use the behavior underlying the dropped counts to increase dramatically the sentence, unless specifically foreclosed by the plea agreement. See United States v. Kamer, 781 F.2d 1380, 1386-87 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 819, 107 S.Ct. 80, 93 L.Ed.2d 35 (1986) (sentence imposed must comport with sentence bargained for). ³