Guilty Pleas and Plea Bargaining

Question 1

Advising Defendants of the Charge, the potential Penalty, and Their Right

Answer 1

The judge must determine that the plea is voluntary and intelligent. This must be done by addressing the D personally in open court on the record.

Specifically, the judge must be sure that the D knows and understands things such as:

1. the nature of the charge and to which the plea is offered and the crucial elements of the crime charged;
2. the maximum possible penalty and any mandatory minimum; and
3. That the D has a right not to plead guilty and that if they do plead guilty, they waive the right to trial.

Question 2

Attorney May inform a Defendant

Answer 2

The judge need not personally explain the elements of each charge to the D on the record; it is sufficient that the record reflects that the nature of the charge and the elements of the crime were explained to the D by their own counsel.

Question 3

Remedy

Answer 3

Remedy for failure to meet the standards for taking a plea is withdrawal of the plea and pleading anew.

Question 4

Collateral Attacks on Guilty Pleas After Sentencing

Answer 4

Those pleas that are seen as an intelligent choice among a D’s alternatives are immune from collateral attack. But a plea can be set aside for

1. involuntariness (failure to meet standards for taking a plea),
2. lack of jurisdiction,
3. ineffective assistance of counsel, or
4. failure to keep the plea bargain

Question 5

Plea Bargaining

Answer 5

A plea bargain will be enforced against the prosecutor and the Defendant, but not against the judge, who does not have to accept the plea.

A guilty plea is not involuntary merely because it was entered in response to the prosecution’s threat to charge the defendant with a more serious crime if they do not plead guilty.

There is no prosecutorial vindictiveness in charging a more serious offense when D demands a jury trial.

Question 6

Collateral Effects of Guilty Pleas

Answer 6

A guilty plea conviction may be used as a conviction in other proceedings when relevant.

However, a guilty plea neither admits the legality of incriminating evidence nor waives 4th Amendment claims in a subsequent civil damages action.