Once there was a fellow who was arrested for three kilos of cocaine in his house in the 70’s when the “tough on crime” drug laws were in vogue. Every politician wanted to be tougher than the next. Now, this quantity would have resulted in a defendant getting 5 years at most, maybe seven if he had a prior record. But this was the beginning of the war on drugs and people were getting 25 years for a couple of ounces. Really! The defendant was out on bail and after he jumped bail, he was tried in absentia, convicted, his sentence adjourned until he was caught, and of course he was caught.
But that is not the point of the story. After he was caught and given a 25-year sentence, (really!) he was indicted by the Feds for activity arising from the same conduct for which he was convicted in the State case. He pled guilty believing quite reasonably that he would get a similar sentence, but one that would run concurrently. After all these prosecutors were gentlemen. Wrong. Not only was the defendant given a consecutive sentence, it was thirty year consecutive sentence!