Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

having never been arrested , I took the advice of another inmate and plead not guilty at my arraingment can I change my plea before I go to court and not sure what the difference is between pleading guilty or pleading no contest


Asked on 4/11/17, 11:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jared Austin Austin Legal Services, PLC

Pleading No Contest is the same as pleading guilty, only you don't have to specifically tell the judge what you did wrong that makes you guilty of the offense. The judge will have to review something else to determine your guilt, like a police report. Also, you can't just plead No Contest because you feel like it. The law only allows a few reasons to enter a No Contest plea such as you can't remember the events well enough to lay a factual basis for the plea (because of the passage of time, being intoxicated, mental infirmity) or because pleading guilty could be used against you in a subsequent civil lawsuit. The judge and prosecutor has to agree to allow you to plead No Contest.

If you did plead No Contest a conviction to the charge would enter on your record. Never plead guilty or no contest without fully discussing the matter with a lawyer first. There may be unintended consequences that you don't know about or never considered. Or you may actually have valid legal defenses or ways to challenge the evidence.

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Answered on 4/11/17, 12:07 pm


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