Comment has been made as to the meaning of the reported plea of Tommy Shelton to plead guilty to the charges in Virginia. It has been suggested by some that TS was really innocent of the charges, but forced by circumstances to plead guilty.
Depending upon what the law of the State of Virginia says, TS may have had two other options. These are a plea of:
1) Nolo Contendere:
Latin for "no contest." In a criminal proceeding, a defendant may enter a plea of nolo contendere, in which he does not accept or deny responsibility for the charges but agrees to accept punishment. The plea differs from a guilty plea because it cannot be used against the defendant in another cause of action. For example, pleading nolo contendere to criminal charges side steps possible estoppel claims from being filed in a civil lawsuit. Nolo contendere pleas differ from Alford pleas in this regard. See Alford plea.
Some states do not allow defendants to ask the court's permission to plead nolo contendere. In federal cases, the Rules of Federal Criminal Procedure allow such pleas, with the court's permission.
See, e.g. Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes, 504 U.S. 1 (1992), Halbert v. Michigan, 545 U.S. 605 (2005).
2) Alford plea:
Also known as a "best-interests plea," an Alford plea registers a formal claim neither of guilt nor innocence toward charges brought against a defendant in criminal court. Like a nolo contendere plea, an Alford plea arrests the full process of criminal trial because the defendant -- typically, only with the court's permission -- accepts all the ramifications of a guilty verdict (i.e. punishment) without first attesting to having committed the crime. The name, Alford plea, is taken from North Carolina v. Alford 400 U.S. 25.
NOTE: The above is taken from Cornell University's Legal Information Institute.
A guilty plea is an admission of guilt. The two listed pleas above save the costs of a trial, accepts the punishment that a guilty plea would bring, but does not admit guilt. I do not know if Virginia law would have allowed TS to make either of those pleas. If VA Law does allow it, it appears that TS chose not to make either of them. In any case, it appears that he chose to plead guilty, if the reports are accurate.
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Topic: TS may have had other options to plead? (Read 8949 times)
