Discussing Plea Bargaining With Criminal Defense Lawyer

Once you are facing a serious criminal charge, the situation might force you to be pragmatic as to the options that you are willing to take in consideration of the circumstances surrounding your case. Although your Las Vegas criminal defense attorney will primarily explore all legal remedies to get an acquittal, the situation may require you to consider another fall back position. At this juncture, you will have to consult and discuss seriously with your Las Vegas criminal defense lawyer the possibility of plea bargain to get a lighter penalty. There are many instances where the defendant agrees to a plea bargain with the prosecution and settle for a lighter sentence.

Plea bargaining is the legal act where the defendant enters into an agreement with the prosecution and the former agrees to plead guilty to a lesser offense in exchange for the dropping of charges for the more serious criminal offense. For instance, a defendant may agree to plead guilty to a misdemeanor instead of the felony offense which normally carries a heavier penalty. By agreeing to a plea bargain you will be sentenced to a 12 year imprisonment instead of the 20 years minimum sentence of the more serious felony offense.

There are several things that you have to take into account before one can enter into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution. You should also get a clear and direct explanation from your criminal defense lawyer in order to ascertain whether the result of the plea bargain is desirable or not. The decision whether to enter into a plea bargaining agreement will be influenced by the assessment of the position of both parties as far as the criminal case is concerned. Both the respondent and prosecution will have to weigh their chances and finally make a decision whether to proceed to a full blown court proceeding or just work for a plea bargaining agreement.

On the other hand, public pressure may also enter into the decision parameter and the prosecution may rule out any plea bargain agreement owing to the strong public interest to a particular case. The criminal defense lawyer will also have to seriously consider the desire of the defendant to go for a full blown trial and impress upon him the worst case scenario if faced with a conviction.

The significant gain of the defendant when he agrees to a plea bargain offer is that it eliminates the potential risk of a conviction for a serious offense. The society by and large also benefits from the plea bargaining agreement as it lessens the load of the court and allows the prosecutors to handle other cases.

The major downside of the plea bargain is for an innocent defendant being pressured to take a plea bargain agreement in order to avoid conviction for a serious felony charge. In some instances, prosecutors and criminal lawyers alike observe that plea bargaining has bred inefficiencies and incompetence within the ranks of the police authorities while attorneys do not take much of their time reviewing the case in the expectation of working for a plea bargain. Many now rely on plea bargaining as their preferred route in handling a case and the issue of seeing justice is served becomes inconsequential to them.