No Contest Vs Guilty In Bexar
Description
Form popularity
FAQ
A guilty plea is an affirmative admission of guilt. A no contest plea is not. Therefore if there are possible civil liability ramifications, such as responsibility for an auto accident, its better to plea no contest, if possible.
You admit to the allegation. No contest means that you do not admit to actually committing the allegation, you merely admit that the State can produce sufficient evidence for you to be found guilty. In general, no contest is the better way to go, but it probably wouldn't make much difference in your situation.
The difference between a plea of guilty and no contest is that the no contest plea may not later be used against you in a civil suit for damages.
Pleading guilty means you admit that you committed the crime. Pleading no contest (“nolo contendere”) means accepting the conviction but avoiding a factual admission of guilt.
contest plea will result in a permanent criminal record for both types of offenses unless you successfully petition for expungement or an order of nondisclosure (sealing).
If you plead guilty or no contest, the court will find you guilty and assess a fine as punishment. A plea of no contest has the same result as a plea of guilty, but it may not be used against you in any civil proceeding that might arise from the incident leading to your arrest.
Note that you do not always have the option of pleading no contest instead of pleading guilty. Sometimes prosecutors insist that you plead guilty as part of a plea bargain. And judges do not always have to accept no contest pleas. No contest pleas still result in a conviction.
There is a common myth that criminal charges are automatically removed after 7 years, however, this is simply not true.
contest plea is a statement made by the defendant in a criminal case where they neither admit nor deny the charges against them but agree to accept punishment. Essentially, it's a way for the defendant to avoid admitting guilt while acknowledging that the prosecution has enough evidence to likely convict them.
You should always plead no contest, if you can. A no contest plea mean that you do not contest the charges. The court still finds you guilty, but the conviction can't be used against you in a civil lawsuit. For example, if you are in a car accident and get cited, you would want to plead no contest to the citation.
