What is a No Contest Plea?
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When a person is charged with commiting a crime, he or she is given the opportunity to respond. There are three possible responses: a guilty plea, not guilty plea, and no contest plea. If a defendant does not enter a plea, a plea of not guilty will be entered for him or her. From the Latin, nolo contendre, no contest means the person does not refute the charges, but also does not claim guilt for the charges. This can save time if a person convicted of a crime must stipulate to each of the charges.
However, while the person charged with the crime is not pleading guilty or contesting the charges, he or she is often considered guilty when pleading no contest. If sentencing for a crime is immediate then the plea does not carry any special weight when a judge considers sentencing.
In fact, a person who wants a trial to defend his or her innocence would probably not use a no contest plea. Sometimes a court can be petitioned for a change of plea, but this is not always allowed. Instead, the no contest plea is almost always used when the plea results in immediate sentencing. Additionally, a person convicted of a crime who pleaded no contest is just as guilt as if he or she pleaded guilty.
In some cases, however, clients who feel they would not win at charges but assert their innocence are convinced to plead no contest since this will result in a plea bargain. If the case really seems unwinnable in a trial by jury, a shorter sentence option may be more attractive. Yet the person still wants to somehow not make an absolute statement of guilt. In this case, one may plead no contest to suggest that one is resigned to accepting punishment for the charges but is not making an assertion of guilt.
This may not always be an effective strategy, particularly if the person asserting innocence may also be facing civil court for behaviors for which he or she is pleading no contest. In fact, a no contest plea is often looked at as a plea of guilty by the civil court, and thus the person is likely to lose lawsuits in civil court that result from damages incurred by the alleged crime. The no contest plea does not keep the court from finding the person guilty. In fact it almost always results in conviction.
State law in the US is usually the determining factor in whether a person can plead no contest. Sometimes the no contest plea is not allowed. Canadian laws leave decisions as to when the no contest plea can be used up to individual judges. Some countries do not allow for a no contest plea at any time.
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*Child abandonment in the state of ga. how can this be. help!* .guilty or not guilty or no contest. she was born on sept 4 2008 mother file this on oct 4 2008. in her county i live in a deference county. Now we already a case with D H R child support services. To establish child support now i ask for *genetic testing.* My notice came in the mail for a genetic testing Nov 20,2008 Her was Nov 17,2008 The Baby was DEC 08 2008. Now the test came back in the mail DEC 20,2008. Said 99% ok, *I'm cool with that's*.
ok I have another date with D H R Child Support Service to decide how much or go court, I Said let's go to court. Now keep in mind i have not been order anything yet. Now my court date, at Superior Court. FEB 12,2009 where everything went down. Now backup just a tab on FEB 9,2009 I rec: a letter to come court in her county, to report for Child Abandonment, so i go before the Judge before i can say anything they lock me up. Asking me how come i haven't done anything for the baby,like i said *child support is being established.* Now Child Support Established, everything from the court date of FEB 12,2009 *i have paid everything the court had told me to pay. i have a court date on tomorrow for arraignment guilty, not guilty,or no contest.* - rossi
If someone pled no contest without understanding what it meant, can that person have a retrial? They are innocent, can prove it, and even know who did commit the crime. This person had so much taken from them by doing the no contest plea, and I would like to see them get atleast some of it back. They just did not have the money to pay a lawyer and was told to plea no contest like it was the only option for them, but will be paying for it for a very long time.
- anon31407
I was charged with dui and had my license suspended. A few weeks later I was pulled over and charged with dus. Will it help anything at all for me to plead no contest to this charge?
- anon30172
You can't take a plea bargain without either pleading guilty or 'no contest'. If you plead guilty, depending on the state and what you're charged with, you often have to go through and explain the details of the crime you are pleading guilty to, which is fine if you're actually guilty, but lots of people take plea bargains for crimes they didn't commit- the unlucky guy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the unlikeable defendant who just 'seems' guilty to the jury, or the person who takes a plea bargain for a dramatically reduced a sentence rather than take even a small chance of an erroneous conviction.
So, yeah, the world treats 'no contest' the same as it treats 'guilty', but look at some of the death row cases that were reversed when they discovered DNA evidence... Lots of those guys were forced to memorize details of a crime they didn't commit and pretend in court, even swear on the bible, that they did horrible things that they never actually did. No contest pleas allow people in situations like that at least some way to preserve a shred of their dignity. - anon29287
Jesus pleaded "no contest." Think about it. He was innocent, yet he did not declare it or did He refute the allegations against Him). Followers of Christ are called to do the same (if put in such a situation).
- anon19638
No contest simply means that you are not admitting to the guilt, but you are still accepting the punishment as if you were guilty. I would never plead guilty to anything. Always choose no contest over guilty. I have seen traffic violations dropped on a no contest plea, that would have otherwise been fined.
- anon19619
I was recently convicted of a misdemeanor for possession of a dangerous weapon, I was told by my attorney to plead no contest to escape the 1 year of jail time that the court was charging me, along with 3 years of probation, Some may think that this law is broken but there are some ppl whom really haven't done too much bad things to get treated the same way as say someone who killed someone or raped someone.
- anon18641
The no contest plea does not keep the court from finding the person guilty. In fact it almost always results in conviction.
- anon15900
Hi, There are two options when sealing records. You can either petition to "seal arrest and criminal records" or you can petition to "seal a conviction". The first option requires that all charges be dismissed or acquitted. My question is, where does a no contest plea fall? Is it a criminal record, or is it a conviction? It does not seem to really qualify for either. Thanks
- clank
No Contest must be removed from the United States Court system! It's stupid english and still means guilty to the court!
- anon14433
Hi, i was charged for assault for which sincerely pled not guilty. I was later convinced by my attorney to plead a no contest and i am at moment awaiting sentencing. Will the sentencing enter my records; and is it a right decision i took since i want this matter to end sooner than later?
- anon10906
Hello there!
Isn't "no contest plea" a logical impossibility? What do the words refer to; what extension or actions outside the words if the person has not committed the crime but, can not refute the charges? Doesn't "no contest plea" create some sort of "vacuum"? I would think that if a person can not be proven guilty he/she is released? And not that one complicates matters by creating a strange situation where the person who is charged can in some way be considered guilty because he/she could not refute the charges? Where in reality would a person be if the person in question was caught between "not being able to refute the charges" and "can not be convicted"? This seems impossible, I would think it is the authorities who has to prove the person's guilt, not the person himself? - anon6717
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