243) "No Contest” vs. Guilty Plea? ~ Michael A Haber Miami Criminal Defense DUI DV Lawyer
Channel: Michael Haber
Date: 2018-02-26

Thank you for asking me “What’s the difference between a “No Contest” and a Guilty Plea?”

As usual, it depends.  

Sometimes there’s no difference at all, and other times there can be a world of difference.

When you plead guilty you flat out admit to the facts of the case, just as they were alleged by the police and the prosecutor.  In fact, before a Judge accepts your guilty plea there’s a 99.9% chance that you will be asked, under oath, “are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?” And if you say anything other than “yes” then the Judge simply won’t accept your plea.  Once your guilty plea is accepted you’ve agreed to be responsible for any and all legal consequences of the facts of your case.

On the other hand, when you plead no contest you admit the facts of the case but you specifically do not admit your guilt.

In both cases, once accepted you’ll be sentenced, but when the Court accepts your no contest plea then your plea cannot be used against you in either a civil lawsuit or in a subsequent criminal case.

Here’s an example: You are arrested for theft.  You close your case with a plea.  A few years later you are arrested for Racketeering (or RICO), the bulk of the new case being other theft related acts.  If you had plead guilty to the earlier theft case then your admission of guilt might be admissible against you as evidence in your new RICO case; but, had the Court accepted a no contest plea in the earlier theft case then the RICO jury would  never know that you’ pled guilty to a prior theft case, because you didn’t plead guilty, you pled no contest.

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Please note that no attorney-client relationship with either Michael A. Haber, PA or Michael A. Haber, Esq. exists as a result of your watching this Webisode series.  Further any and all information which is both contained in and may be construed from this Webisode series is generic in nature and should only be considered as informational and not as actual legal advise in any specific case.  Should you wish to seek actual legal advise then please feel free to contact Michael A. Haber, Esq. as follows:

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