Should You Plead Guilty to a Criminal Charge?
Author: Brenda Hollingsworth and Richard Auger

A reader asks: "How Do I Know if I Should Plead Guilty to
the Charges Against Me?"

The short answer is:  If you are not a criminal defence
lawyer, and you have not reviewed the evidence that the
police and Crown attorney have about your case, YOU DON'T
KNOW.

A criminal defence lawyer does a lot more for his or her
clients than conduct the trial.  Before a trial date is
even scheduled, a good criminal defence lawyer will do the
following for you:

1. Obtain all of the Crown evidence ("disclosure") and
review it to see if there is enough evidence to convict you
of the charges.  This is not as straightforward as it
sounds.  It involves carefully reviewing the police notes
and records to be sure that you have been provided with
everything and then looking at the charge against you.
Usually there are a number of different aspects of the
charge that the Crown has to prove before you will be
convicted.

2. Conduct an assessment of the witnesses who will testify
against you.  Do they have criminal records?  Do they have
a reason to lie to the police or to the Court?  A criminal
defence lawyer carefully considers those questions.

3.Meet with the Crown attorney to determine the best deal
available.  A criminal defence lawyer who has reviewed the
disclosure and is aware of the weaknesses in the Crown's
case will be able to negotiate a better deal.

4. Meet with the Crown attorney and a judge to try an
achieve an acceptable deal and /or a withdrawal of the
charges against you.

5. Evaluate the methods and techniques employed by the
police to determine if there are any breaches of your
constitutional ("Charter") rights.  Sometimes a violation
of your rights can mean that your charges will be dismissed
on that basis alone.  Other times, evidence that is
obtained in violation of your rights can be excluded from
the trial.

6. Evaluate the charges themselves to see if they violate
the Charter.  Many sections of the Criminal Code of Canada
have been struck down by the court because an attentive
defense lawyer realized that they were too broadly worded
or had another defect.

7. Explain to you the likely outcome if you do plead guilty
or are unsuccessful at trial.  A defence lawyer knows what
an appropriate range of sentence is for the charges and
circumstances in your case.

8. Help you to take steps before sentencing to improve the
outcome.  For example, a criminal defence lawyer can assist
you to find drug and alcohol counseling programs, anger
management treatment, get letters of reference or take
other steps to minimize sentencing.

It is only when all of these steps have been taken that you
are truly in a position to decide whether it is in your
best interest to plead guilty.


About the Author:

Richard Auger defends clients in Ontario who have been
charged with criminal offences.  He is the co-author with
Brenda Hollingsworth of "Fighting Impaired Driving Charges
in Ontario", a book available free of charge at
http://www.ottawalawfirm.ca , by email at
info@ottawalawfirm.ca or by phoning 613.233.4529.