Houston...That is My Only Option!
Frequently, clients think they only have one option in their criminal case. This could not be further from the truth. First, everyone is presumed to be NOT Guilty when accused of a crime. Accordingly, a client has the option of stating that they are" not guilty" or "guilty" of the alleged conduct. There is a third option of stating "no contest", but this is equivalent to a guilty plea. Second, just because a person would like to plead guilty means that they must accept the offer made by the prosecution. In fact, an accused has the option of letting the judge or a jury decided their punishment despite the desire to plead guilty. Recently, I had a client that did not want to accept the prosecutor's offer as well as not want to go trial on the case. Luckily for him I was able to convince the judge to give him what he was seeking. Third, if the client does not want to accept the prosecution's offer, and does not like the judge's idea of the proper punishment they may decide to let a jury decide what the appropriate punishment in their case should be. This allows the accused to plead guilty to the jury, but in the meantime ask them for the punishment they were seeking from the prosecutor and judge.
