Are you facing a DUI charge? Are you facing a Criminal Law charge? In our criminal justice system, prior to trial, an individual must be formally charged of committing an offense s. After a formal accusation, usually in the form of an indictment or an accusation, an accused is required to respond.
This formal response to a criminal charge is called a plea. Some common pleas are not guilty, guilty, nolo contendere, and the Alford plea. A plea of not guilty is a denial of all charge s filed against the accused. A plea of not guilty forces the prosecution to prove that the accused committed the alleged charge s as filed beyond a reasonable doubt. A plea of guilty tells the court that the accused admits to the charge s filed against him.
By entering a plea of guilty, an accused waives all rights associated with trial, including the right to be heard before a fair and impartial jury, to confront witnesses, among others. If you plead no contest, however, you have not been proven guilty, nor have you admitted guilt.
If a victim involved in the crime for which you are being charged seeks to sue you in civil court, a no contest plea will make it much more difficult for them to win their case because they will have to prove that you committed the act which leads to your arrest and later civil suit.
When dealing with felony charges it will usually be necessary to speak or have your lawyer speak with the prosecutors before entering a plea of no contest.
During this process, it may be possible to negotiate with the prosecutors to have them seek reduced penalties in exchange for a plea of no contest. If you enter a no contest plea, your trial will not have to move forward. This means a public hearing of all the evidence against you which you may wish to avoid. One of the biggest advantages of this is that none of this information will be known about you, which can save you from a lot of embarrassment and other issues.
Prior to entering any plea in your case, it is critical that you speak with your attorney. They will be able to advise you on how each of your options will impact your case. Please contact us so we can discuss your situation with you, and help you to find the best option for moving forward. Sometimes the best option might be a trial or perhaps a non-trial resolution.
These have the same fundamental consequences as guilty pleas, with the defendant receiving a conviction and accepting some kind of punishment. But the defendant doesn't actually admit guilt. For most defendants, the primary advantage of a no-contest plea is that it often can't be used as an admission of liability in a related civil case.
Suppose Duke and Vince get into an argument-turned-fight. Duke fares better in the bout. Duke is not only charged by the local district attorney with criminal assault—he's also sued by Vince for assault and battery in civil court.
After reaching an agreement with the prosecution, Duke pleads nolo contendere to the criminal assault charge. Traditionally, Duke's plea would mean that Vince couldn't argue, "Hey, he admitted he was guilty in the criminal case, so he has to be liable in this civil case!
But the law has evolved in some states to permit the use of some no-contest pleas in civil court. For instance, the California Evidence Code allows a plaintiff to introduce evidence of a defendant's nolo contendere plea to a crime that could have been punished as a felony. So, in California, if Duke pleaded no contest to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, Vince would have been free to introduce evidence of the plea to show Duke's guilt.
This form of assault is a " wobbler ," which a judge can punish as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Vince would have been able to use the plea even if the judge had imposed on Duke only a misdemeanor sentence. By Peter Followill , Contributing Author. A nolo contendere or "no contest" plea is a plea entered by a defendant to a criminal charge. By pleading nolo contendere or no contest, the defendant does not admit the criminal charge but chooses not to contest it. Defendants often prefer to enter a plea of no contest because in most states such a plea doesn't constitute an admission of wrongdoing for the purpose of civil litigation.
In other words, a defendant's no contest plea to domestic violence won't be introduced as an admission to having committed domestic violence in a civil lawsuit brought by the victim. A no contest plea is generally considered a criminal conviction, and the same penalties that apply to a guilty plea apply to a no contest plea.
In federal court, a defendant may enter a nolo contendere plea only if the judge agrees to allow it instead of a guilty plea. A plea of nolo contendere is considered a conviction just like a guilty plea. Federal law makes the possession of a firearm or ammunition illegal for a person who has been convicted of either a misdemeanor or felony domestic violence offense. Under federal law, it's a crime for a person convicted of any crime punishable by more than a year in prison to possess a firearm or ammunition.
Federal law also prohibits people from selling or otherwise providing a firearm or ammunition to a person whom the seller knows or has reasonable to believe has been convicted of a domestic violence crime. For a person who pleaded guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor domestic violence crime, the following events will restore eligibility to legally possess a firearm and ammunition:.
0コメント