An Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Explains Your Trial Options to You

Once your case is held for court and moves beyond the Preliminary Hearing stage, you will have four basic options for how your case can proceed:

• Jury Trial

• Judge or Waiver Trial

• Negotiated Guilty Plea

• Open Guilty Plea

Negotiated Guilty Plea: Accepting a Deal

In Philadelphia County you are first given an offer at your Pre-trial Conference in a lets-make-a-deal room and if you and your lawyer find it acceptable (sometimes after further negotiations) then you can accept the offer and plead guilty. This is called accepting a Negotiated Guilty Plea where the judge sentences you to the sentencing terms that you, your lawyer, and the Assistant Attorney have agreed upon. If you take the deal then the case is over after you plead guilty and are sentenced. (In rare cases, the judge can reject the Negotiated Offer because they feel it is too light of a sentence.)

(The Philadelphia surrounding counties such as Montgomery, Buck, Delaware, and Chester all have slightly different but similar procedures and the concept is the same.) Hire a responsive criminal defense attorney in West Chester, PA.

Open Guilty Plea: Letting the Judge Decide

If you and/or your attorney do not like the offer and decide that you will get a better sentence by pleading “open” then you can turn down the offer and accept an Open Guilty Plea. Pleading “open” means that you will plead guilty to all the charges and let the Judge decide your sentence based on the Sentencing Guidelines. In these instances, the judges have guidelines that they are supposed to follow unless they have good reason not to follow them. In essence, you are normally hoping the judge deviates (i.e., goes outside) the suggested Sentencing Guidelines and gives you a lighter sentence than the guidelines. If you plead open then the case is over after you plead guilty and are sentenced by the judge.

Choosing to Go to Trial

If you and your Criminal Defense Attorney decide that pleading guilty is not in your best interest, you can request a trial. At that point, you have two options: A jury trial, or waiver (judge) trial—so called because you waive your right to a jury. You can ask to have your case assigned to a trial room, where you'll choose between a jury trial or a waiver trial.

Jury Trial vs. Waiver (Judge) Trial

The difference between a jury trial and a waiver (judge) trial is that in a waiver trial, the judge determines whether you are guilty or not; while in a jury trial, the jury determines whether you are guilty or not. This is called the “trier of facts” since they are determining the credibility of facts and whether the facts (i.e., evidence) meets the burden of proof in a criminal trial – “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Both types of trial use the same standard of proof which is the highest standard of proof in any type of law in the United States.

Beyond a reasonable proof is defined as: It means the prosecution's evidence must be so convincing that there's no other plausible explanation for the evidence, leaving no reasonable doubt in the mind of a rational person that the defendant committed the crime. While not requiring absolute certainty, it demands a high level of confidence in the defendant's guilt.

Guilty vs. Not Guilty: What It Really Means

It is important to remember that in the United States the defendant in a criminal case is only found “guilty” and “not guilty” and are not found “innocent”. “Not Guilty” merely means there was not sufficient evidence to convict the defendant, not that there was absolute proof that the defendant was innocent. Many people, including the press, often get this concept wrong.

(If the jury is hung, there will be no verdict and the case remains open. The District Attorney’s Office will usually retry you or sometimes make you a new offer.)

The Judge’s Role in Trials

In both types of trials, the judge makes all legal rulings (including any motions, such as a motion to suppress) and determines your sentence if you are found guilty of at least one criminal charge (except in Capital Murder Cases where the jury determines whether you get the death penalty or life imprisonment). As in all cases, the judge is required to sentence the defendant based upon suggested Sentencing Guidelines and must state his reasoning if he deviates from those guidelines.

For more information, check out Mark D. Hauser. He is your go-to Delaware County criminal defense attorney.