Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, [1] an Alford guilty plea, [2] [3] [4] and the Alford doctrine, [5] [6] [7] is a guilty plea in criminal court, [8] [9] [10] whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence, but accepts imposition of a sentence.
In law, a plea is a defendant's response to a criminal charge. [1] A defendant may plead guilty or not guilty. Depending on jurisdiction, additional pleas may be available, including nolo contendere (no contest), no case to answer (in the United Kingdom), or an Alford plea (in the United States).
If the defendant pleads not guilty, a date is set for a preliminary hearing or a trial. In the past, a defendant who refused to plead (or "stood mute") was subject to peine forte et dure (Law French for "strong and hard punishment"). Today, in common law jurisdictions, the court enters a plea of not guilty for a defendant who refuses to enter a ...
A nolo contendere plea has the same immediate effects as a plea of guilty, but may have different residual effects or consequences in future actions. For instance, a conviction arising from a nolo contendere plea is subject to any and all penalties, fines, and forfeitures of a conviction from a guilty plea in the same case, and can be considered as an aggravating factor in future criminal actions.
Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389 (1993), was a landmark decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if a defendant was competent to stand trial, they were automatically competent to plead guilty, and thereby waive the panoply of trial rights, including the right to counsel.
Because a guilty plea must be made intelligently, knowingly, and voluntarily, the court must advise the defendant of the following things: The nature of the charge; The potential penalties which might result from the plea, including any mandatory minimum sentence; The defendant's rights to not plead guilty, and to request a jury trial.
The right to counsel "does not depend upon a request by the defendant, and the courts indulge in every reasonable presumption against waiver." [6] This is a strict standard and is applied equally to an alleged waiver whether it occurred at trial or in a pre-trial proceeding, such as interrogation. This is not to be read as stating that a ...
Cory Albert Blakley pleads not guilty during his arraignment at the Placer Superior Court in Roseville on Friday. He and his wife Kimberly Rachel Blakley are accused of murder, torture and child ...