What are no contest pleas and what are its pros and cons?

Many criminal cases often end in a plea bargain where the suspect and his/her criminal defense lawyer strike a deal with the prosecution. Generally, the suspect pleads guilty not to the original charges levied upon them but to a lesser charge which will essentially mean far less severe legal consequences. A plea bargain allows the judge to sentence the convict to a lighter charge and harnesses a more transparent, honest legal process.

You saw this in The Wire with Avon Barksdale. He could have been given many more years but he cooperated and so on. When in jail, he set up a correction’s officer and used that to rat that CO out which enabled him to get out of prison years earlier than he should have.

While such guilty pleas make up the majority of how most criminal cases end, it is not always the case and criminal defense attorneys know this from point blank experience. Sometimes, the guilty party and his or her legal counsel decide to a no-contest plea or “nolo contender”, a Latin term that translates to “I do not wish to content”.

No contest pleas are especially used by legal professionals who are defending clients in criminal cases where there is a possibility that there could also be a civil lawsuit filed against their client. If the suspect has pleaded guilty in the criminal case and the victim were to file a civil case against the suspect, then the guilty plea can be used as direct conclusive evidence against the suspect. Therefore, when a suspect pleads no contest, the evidence brought against him or her in a civil lawsuit (if there is one) will not include the result of the connected criminal case itself and criminal defense lawyers know all about this.

The basics of a no contest pleas

For the most part, a no contest plea will essentially have the same effect as a guilty plea. The defendant will be convicted and penalized for the original criminal charges brought against them. However, with a no contest plea, the defendant does not explicitly admit to having committed the crime he or she was accused of.

So for example, if a suspect who is accused of causing a DUI accident that caused injury pleads with no contest in the criminal case is then sued by his or her victim in a relating civil lawsuit, the burden of proof will be entirely on the plaintiff and they cannot use the result of the criminal case as evidence in the civil lawsuit. On the other hand, had the accused pleaded guilty in the criminal case then the plaintiff in the civil case can simply put forth to the civil court that the accused has already confessed to the crime and thus easily win the lawsuit and criminal defense lawyers work under these restraints all the time.

OJ Simpson may have been innocent originally for the murders but he was hammered in the civil case where they even took his Heisman trophy.

Apart from this one inherent advantage of pleading no contest, the defendant also has the personal satisfaction that they did not plead guilty to just get away with a lesser charge for something they were never actually guilty of. That would be terrible. We saw that in the movie Law Abiding Citizen.

No contest laws differ

No contest laws vary from state to state. If you need to know the specific laws in effect in your state or have been charged with a crime that you need to fight then you ought to seek help from a criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible.

Facing charges? Not sure what to do? Being put through a figurative meat grinder? You need legal help. You need to press right here: Criminal-Defense.USAttorneys.com. The DA may not know about this site and they do not need to. This is where you can find that legal representative you certainly need.