re: The Auburn 4- Why did Goodwin get 15 years?

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Plea bargain as a part of trials is not fair at all. It is just efficient. That is it. Plea bargaining allows the prosecutor to put people away without the evidence and/ or the witnesses that a bench or jury trial would need to put the defendants away.

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Except that on their own, plea deals do not take away anyone's right to a fair trial. It's simply a legal agreement where you wave your right to defend yourself for a lesser punishment. In and of themselves, plea deals violate no Constitutional requirements or the due process of law. Now, if you want to argue that public defenders are either incompetent OR (more likely) overworked and thus inefficient, that's another discussion.