Contact an Experienced Attorney when Assistance Needed
Video Transcribed: What is a blind plea in Oklahoma? I’m Oklahoma attorney James Wirth and I’m about to talk to you about blind pleas. Okay, so there’s various types of pleas that you can do.
You see people enter not guilty, guilty, all of those types of things. But a blind plea is really a type of resolution to your case. So you can get a plea deal worked out with the state or the prosecutor and enter that as a plea deal.
You can go to trial, either a bench trial or a jury trial, where the evidence is put on and force the state to either meet their burden or you be acquitted, or there’s middle ground. Let’s say you’ve got a case that you’re not real comfortable going before a jury because there’s a lot of risk in going to a jury. Nobody ever knows exactly for sure what a jury is going to do.
On the other hand, you’re working with a prosecutor who you don’t feel is giving you a good recommendation or a fair recommendation for a plea deal. Well, that’s where your third option comes in, the blind plea.
In a blind plea, that’s where you’re pleading guilty or no contest, meaning that you’re going to be found guilty, but that you’re doing so without the benefit of a plea agreement. So it’s completely up to the judge how you’re going to be sentenced. So you’re not going to do a blind plea and argue that you’re innocent.
You’re going to do a blind plea and you’re going to argue mitigation, and explain to the judge why you should not get a harsh sentence and why you should get a light sentence. And the judge, unlike a jury, if you go to a jury trial, has options for different types of sentencing.
You could do a blind plea and request a deferred sentence so you don’t get a conviction, or request a suspended sentence so that you don’t go to jail, or request a lighter DOC sentence, depending on the severity and the facts of your case.
But it’s all about making mitigation arguments that yes, you’re technically guilty and yes, we’re really sorry about that, but let’s look at these circumstances and why you should not get a harsh sentence.
So sometimes a blind plea is the best option. It is risky and it’s dependent on what the judge will do or what you think the judge will do. But if you’re dealing with a difficult prosecutor and maybe have a case that might be prejudicial in front of a jury, sometimes it’s the best option, but that’s a real difficult determination. You want a really experienced attorney to help you through that process.
So if you’re dealing with something like that, you’re going to want to talk about your specifics with an attorney representing you that is something that my office does handle. If you want to talk to one of the attorneys at my office, the Wirth Law Office, you can go to makelaweasy.com.
