Understanding Plea Deals in Criminal Cases: Key Insights from Attorney Russell Araya (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Hi everyone, it's attorney Russell Araya of Ramos Law. Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of our House of Law series. Today we're going to be talking about the plea deal in a criminal case, so stick around. People get arrested every day and they're charged with crimes such as felonies and misdemeanors. Ultimately they have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to plead guilty or not plead guilty. For our conversation today, let's assume for the sake of argument that all the evidence is pointing to guilt and there's nothing you can do to really fight the case. There's a video of you committing the crime, there are a ton of witnesses who know you and can say with an absolute certainty that you were the guy who committed the crime. Well, you and your defense attorney are going to have some serious discussions as to whether or not you're going to accept a plea and what type of plea that's going to be for you. Now, your attorney will negotiate with a district attorney about a sensible plea that works in your favor as well as in society's favor. Now, once you agree to take that plea there are certain consequences. The first of which is you have to be making or entering that plea voluntarily and knowingly. If you hem and haw at taking that plea before the judge, the judge is not going to accept your guilty plea and is going to have you either rethink about whether or not you want to take the plea or go to trial. But let's say you are committed to taking the plea deal. Well, you will plead guilty in open court. You will stand up before the judge and you're going to accept responsibility for the actions that you committed the day of the crime. You are going to explain exactly what it is you did on the date of the crime. This is called an allocution. The judge is going to ask you specific questions about what you did that day or didn't do, which led to the charges. After the judge has accepted your plea, he or she will find you guilty and knowingly entering that guilty plea. The consequences of that plea could be many things. You might be sentenced to community service. You might be sentenced to jail time. You could be sentenced to a combination of jail and probation or straight probation. You also might be forced to pay certain fines to the court or restitution to the victims that were involved in this crime or to society. Maybe you destroyed some public property that needs to be repaired. Now, after you've pled guilty, you're going to receive a certificate of your conviction. That certificate proves that you have been convicted of the crime. Now, if it's a misdemeanor, sometimes you might be able to enter a deal with the district attorney where if you plead guilty and perform certain community service or probation that the case is essentially dismissed against you after maybe two or three years. Now, with felonies, it's a different story. Felony convictions generally are permanent and they can't be removed from your criminal record absent some really special circumstances. Now, if you have a felony conviction or a criminal, a misdemeanor conviction, that conviction will follow you essentially for the rest of your life, unless, of course, you get a pardon from the governor or the president of the United States, each of which is very difficult to get but not impossible. Thanks again for joining us for our House of Law series. We'll see you next time.