It was Dec. 3, 1991, and Carole Williams had just that day picked up her monthly food stamp allotment. She had three young children to feed, but her husband, Quinton, demanded that she cash in the stamps and give him the money to buy drugs.

When she refused, her husband beat her savagely and cut her face, legs and hands with a piece of broken glass. Holding her face up to his, he bit her lower lip, nearly severing it, police say.

To escape, she ran into the streets even though she was naked. She was rescued by a neighbor, who took her to St. Thomas Hospital, where she had to have 100 stitches.

Police arrested Quinton Williams shortly after the incident and charged him with attempted murder and mayhem. As an ex-felon, he faced being sentenced as a habitual offender, which would mean a mandatory 10-year prison term without parole.

QUINTON WILLIAMS

Charged: Attempted murder of his wife
Plea bargain: Assault with deadly weapon
Sentence: Suspended term and probation

But Quinton Williams never did any time for his attack on his wife.

As part of an agreement with the Attorney General's Office, he pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and got a one-year suspended prison sentence and two years' probation.

Under the agreement, approved by Territorial Court Judge Henry Smock, the Attorney General's Office not only dropped the original charges but agreed to remain silent at sentencing and not seek to have Williams treated as a habitual offender.

Numerous similar cases have enraged police and other opponents of plea bargains, who say that under these agreements hundreds of violent criminals are simply slapped on the wrist as their real crimes go unpunished.

And with four-fifths of the convictions in the territory resulting from plea bargains rather than jury or judge's verdict, the issue has prosecutors on the defensive.

A Daily News review of all convictions from 1990 to 1993 showed that 82 percent of the violent crime cases won by the Attorney General's Office came from plea agreements. The U.S. Attorney's Office made deals in 68 percent of its criminal cases.

In plea bargains, the criminal is allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and get a lighter penalty.

"The officers bust their butts investigating and closing a case and what happens? Some prosecutor decides to take the easy way out and plea-bargains the case," says retired police Capt. Ohanio Harris.

On the other hand, prosecutors say, without plea bargains, the already overburdened court system would hopelessly bog down.

And judges say that without plea bargains, criminal cases would take years to wend through the courts. The cost to taxpayers, they say, would be astronomical.

"Without plea bargaining, we would expect to spend millions of dollars a year more for juries, judges, prosecutors and court-appointed attorneys," says Elwood York, chief assistant to Attorney General Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine. "Do you think the public is going to be willing to pay that?"

In a plea bargain, says Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Peters, everyone gives up something -- but gets something in return.

Not so, say police officers, contending that the public loses whenever there's a plea bargain.

And Chief Territorial Court Judge Verne A. Hodge, the territory's former top prosecutor, says that while plea bargains are an important part of the system, some prosecutors are just too quick to make a deal.

"One of the things that concerns me the most is that I believe prosecutors are often too willing to give up the habitual offenders provision as part of the plea," Hodge says. "This is not something that should be taken lightly."

Career criminals sentenced as habitual offenders must be given a mandatory minimum of 10 years. To have criminals sentenced as habitual offenders, prosecutors must file a petition with the court saying they wish to do so. Often, they agree not to do that as part of a deal to get the criminal to plead guilty -- to something less than the charge he faces.

Hodge and others say prosecutors are sending the wrong message to criminals, and they point to repeat offenders like Juan "Juanito" Sanes, whose six-page rap sheet goes back to 1981 and includes 18 arrests and 30 charges. He has not done more than a few months in prison.

But even when criminals go to prison, plea bargains often make them appear less dangerous than they are. And that, says Assistant Warden Eric Browne, makes a difference in where they are housed and even in how soon they will be paroled.

"When a guy goes up for parole and his report states he committed assault, that's a big difference over murder -- when in fact that was what the man really did," Browne says.

Harris says the public must beware: "Unless plea bargains are curtailed, the list of criminals walking the streets will only get longer."