Justia Lawyer Rating
badge - California DUI Lawyers Association
badge - California Public Defenders Association
badge - Sacramento County Bar Association
badge - The State Bar of California
badge - United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Types of Pleas in a Criminal Case

HandcuffsIf you recently received a charge of driving under the influence, your Sacramento DUI attorney will help you decide the best course to take for your case. The plea you enter could have repercussions down the road, should you decide to apply for a certain job or degree program. You should consider all options when deciding whether to plead guilty, not guilty, or no contest, as each imposes its own set of implications on your case. Under California Penal Code section 1016, there are six types of pleas available for those accused of crimes in California.

Guilty and Not Guilty

A plea of guilty is straightforward—you are admitting to the charges against you and are choosing to forego your right to a trial on the facts. Your Sacramento DUI attorney may recommend a guilty plea if the prosecutor is offering some type of reduced charge or leniency in sentencing.

A plea of not guilty means that you are denying the charges against you. If you plead not guilty, there will be a trial in front of a judge, and possibly a jury, to determine if the state has met its burden of proof against you. If the state cannot meet its burden, you will be found not guilty. Your Sacramento DUI attorney may recommend this plea if the state’s evidence against you is weak and not likely to succeed.

No Contest

A no contest plea, also known as nole contendere, yields the same net result as a guilty plea and subjects the defendant to the same sentencing procedure as a guilty plea. The difference lies in the fact that the defendant is not admitting to the crimes and is choosing not to contest the state’s evidence. If your DUI is a misdemeanor, California law prohibits the introduction of the no contest plea in any subsequent civil trial in which you are named as a defendant.

Other Pleas

There are three other pleas available under California law. The first is “[a] former judgment of conviction or acquittal of the offense charged,” which is essentially a double jeopardy plea alerting the court to the fact that you have already been convicted or acquitted of the exact same offense. Similar to this is the plea “once in jeopardy.” California law also offers defendants the opportunity to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

Contact Us

If you are interested in speaking to a Sacramento DUI about your criminal charges, contact ParamPabla today at (916) 285-7900.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
“Mr. Pabla represented me with my DUI case. He has excellent communication skills and always kept me informed. Mr. Pabla made sure I understood the process and my rights. He eased my mind through a very stressful situation. I highly recommend Mr. Pabla.” Gurpreet
★★★★★
“I am so happy with the service that I received from Param S. Pabla. Jarrett did a great job solving my legal issue and I can’t recommend him enough! He was able to do everything quickly, painlessly, and was ALWAYS available to talk when I needed him. If I ever need help again, I will definitely use him!" Boris
★★★★★
“Param was excellent in my court case of failure to stop at a stop sign. The officer could not see clearly because he was too far away. The officer insisted he could and said he had video but could not produce it at the trial. The officer then asked if he could suspend the trial to go get the video but the judge said he should have had plenty of time to get the video ready beforehand. Needless to say, the judge ruled in my favor and dismissed the case which enraged the officer. Pabla Param’s defense and cross examination skills were excellent and paramount in having the case dismissed. Highly recommended.” T.C.
★★★★★
“My husband and I needed to update everything -family trust, will, medical stuff. Param was really patient -answering all my questions -even when I asked them twice. He wanted to be sure I understood everything we were doing. All docs were sent to us so we could go through them on our own time before anything was finalized. I also liked when we were looking at medical stuff that he had a conversation with me about what I wanted and pointed out some things I didn’t think of.” Debbie