Lessons · Law foundations · the plea options
The plea, and what each one does to the case
A plea is the defendant's formal answer to the charge, and each one sends the case down a different track.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The plea is the fork in the road. Everything the file has to do next, from preparing for a trial to preparing for a sentencing, comes from which way the case went at this fork, and a file working on the wrong side of it is wasting the only time it has.
How to think about it
For each plea, ask what the court does next and what the file has to produce for it. That is the whole practical difference.
Worked example
Guilty: the facts are accepted and the case goes to the penalty stage.The file's work turns to what the court will consider when deciding the penalty.
Not guilty: the state has to prove the charge and the case goes to trial.The file's work turns to disclosure, witnesses and dates.
In some systems, a third option: accepting the penalty without admitting the facts for other purposes.It ends the criminal case the same way, and it can matter for a civil claim about the same event.
Nothing entered yet: some courts enter not guilty so the case can move.A case cannot sit still because an answer has not been given.
Your turn
Write the missing word in the name of the plea that accepts the penalty without admitting the facts elsewhere.
Accepting the penalty without admitting the facts elsewhere: contest
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Writing down that the defendant pleaded without writing down to what. A plea is to a particular charge, and a file with several charges and one word in the note is a file nobody can read.