If a person is given the chance of pleading guilty or innocent. Why would someone choose to plead innocent if pleading guilty gives a lesser punishment.
What happens if they plead innocent? Does the case remain open?
In: 0
If you plead guilty, you admit guilt. You will be sentenced – the judge will typically accept a plea bargain agreed to by the prosecution and the defense, but occasionally people will plead guilty without one of those and in those cases the judge will often impose a somewhat lighter sentence than if you plead not guilty.
If you plead not guilty (you cannot plead innocent, at least in the US), then the trial process continues. Discovery happens, witnesses are deposed, evidence is gathered and entered into the record, etc. Then the trial itself starts – opening statements are made, witnesses give testimony and evidence is presented, and eventually the jury gives a verdict. It’s worth noting that you can often still plead guilty after the trial itself starts – though this generally pisses off the judge and won’t help your sentence as much as doing so before the trial starts.
Why would you plead not guilty? Because sometimes prosecutors are wrong, and you didn’t do it. Or you did do it but their case is weak and they either can’t pin you to the crime or can’t exclude others from the crime. Basically, you plead not guilty if you think you’ll win, or if the cost of losing is really, really high.
The ugly opposite of that last paragraph is why would you plead guilty? Because sometimes you did it and want a lighter sentence, of course, but sometimes you didn’t do it but the evidence looks really bad anyway, and you want a lighter sentence. Basically, you plead guilty if you think you’ll lose, even if you didn’t do it. The legal system, unfortunately, is not perfect.
Latest Answers