How does this work in court? Pleading guilty to a case guarantees a sentence. Whereas not guilty allows you a chance to defend yourself. Doesn’t seem like most defendants would plead guilty. Why is this even a thing?
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What’s to defend?
You pled guilty. That means you did it, exactly as alleged.
If there was a compelling reason for you to need to do that, you plead not guilty by way of…. whatever. Self defence. Insanity. Whatever.
But guilty means you accept the exact charge that was levied against you. It *was* assault or theft or whatever. You are testifying before a court that you did it.
Which is why plea deals when you are innocent are stupid. Pleading guilty might well be taken legally as you being at that place, at that time, doing that thing… and that can come back to bite you in other ways.
Guilty pleas aren’t unheard of. People who are bang to rights do it all the time. You can end up with a lesser sentence (because of the hassle of proving the case otherwise).
But a guilty plea is 100% acceptance that what you were charged with happened.
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