The report says that only commonwealth’s attorneys have the authority to decide how many charges a person will face at trial and whether those charges will carry mandatory minimum sentences. Because the vast majority of criminal cases are resolved by plea bargains, a prosecutor is more likely to decide a criminal defendant’s fate than a judge or jury, the ACLU says.

Prosecutors, however, strongly disagree with much in the study.

“None of us had any idea this was coming along; we had no idea we have ‘unparalleled power,’” said La Bravia J. Jenkins, the Fredericksburg commonwealth’s attorney and president of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys.

“The premise of this report is totally off-base,” and so slanted as to be inaccurate, she said. For instance, she said the defendant also has a choice in whether a case goes to trial: He or she can accept a plea agreement or not, Jenkins said after scanning the report.

Also, she said each side decides whether they want a jury trial. “It’s not ‘unparalleled,’ because the defendant has a parallel power to demand a jury trial,” Jenkins said. “We will study it more and maybe just address each of the charges individually at a later time.”