What happens after I plead guilty?
If the accused indicates to the court that he wishes to plead guilty, a court date will be fixed for him to do so. Prior to indicating that he would be pleading guilty, the accused and/or his lawyers may write to the AGC (known as a letter of representations) with one or more of the following requests (this list is non-exhaustive):
a) For certain charges to be withdrawn (because the elements of the offence are not made out);
b) For certain charges to be reduced from a more serious charge to a less serious one;
c) For the Prosecution to only proceed on a smaller number of charges, and apply to have the remaining charges taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing; or
d) For the Prosecution not to object to the Defence’s position on sentence.
The Prosecution may extend to an accused person a plea offer. This would usually involve either a reduction of some or all the charges against the accused, or to proceed on a smaller number of charges instead.
Having these charges reduced to a less serious one may help an accused person avoid these mandatory minimum sentences. It is therefore important to secure as favourable a plea offer as possible before pleading guilty to the charges. It is recommended that you engage a lawyer for such matters as they would have sufficient experience to advise you if a plea offer is favourable to you or to work on your defence to ensure that you get an acceptable and reasonable conviction.
If you require more information that are not listed in our articles, or legal advice on a specific matter, please contact us for a free first consultation.