Selamat menyimak.
What Is a Plea Agreement?
A plea agreement is an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant to resolve the criminal case where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a certain crime and the prosecutor agrees to provide the defendant a benefit for doing so.
Plea agreements come in many different forms. In some cases, no actual “plea agreement” is reached with the prosecutor, but the prosecutor agrees to recommend a certain sentence to the judge in exchange for the defendant’s agreement to plead guilty either to the original charged offense or to a lesser offense.
In other cases, the prosecutor may agree to reduce the charged offense to a lesser offense in exchange for the defendant’s agreement to plead guilty. There may or many not also be an “agreement” on a specific sentence, or an agreement by the prosecutor to recommend a specific sentence to the court.
In cases where there is no actual “agreement” between the parties regarding sentencing but only a recommendation by the prosecutor of a particular sentence, the court may or may not follow the prosecutor’s recommendation.
It is important to keep in mind that the judge’s decision not to follow a “recommendation” on sentencing following the entry and acceptance of a guilty plea is generally not a basis to withdraw the guilty plea.
On the other hand, when the prosecutor and defendant enter into a plea agreement, the judge must first approve it. There would be a court hearing where the parties present the terms of the plea agreement to the judge.
The judge would then question the defendant to be certain that he fully understood the terms of the agreement and voluntarily agreed to it. Then the judge would decide whether or not to approve the plea agreement.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Entering Into a Plea Agreement?
As with any agreement between parties where there is a dispute, a plea bargain involves a compromise. For the prosecutor and the judge, there are clear benefits of resolving a case through a plea bargain, including judicial economy and efficient resolution of their caseloads. In addition, prosecutors may gain the cooperation of the defendant as part of a plea agreement, which may assist their investigation or prosecution of other individuals. Judges have a similar incentive for wanting a criminal case to be settled—reduction of an already congested docket of court cases.
For you as the defendant, the decision whether to accept a plea agreement is more complicated and has more long-term ramifications. Here are some of the benefits of entering into a plea agreement:
