Back in the day, when defendants were generally charged in person in court, sometimes Fred (the bondsman) and/or I would be the only people in court other than the judge, the clerk, the prosecutor and the guards - apart from the defendants.  When a case was outrageous enough, we would sometimes intervene - in various ways - making resources (like call this lawyer) or even suggesting the prosecutor move  against his own plea.  Once - I was not present but the people involved presented it in an open meeting as Shiloh Baptist Church - the judge himself simply looked at the defendants (a couple, a Lt Colonel and a ASD administrator) and asked THEM "what do YOU want to do?"  Meaning "do you want to charge the police with crimes???"