SOCL 3371 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Lesser Included Offense, Nolo Contendere, Voir Dire
Document Summary
Ch. 10 the disposition: plea bargaining, trial, and sentencing. By pleading guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) to a lesser included charge, the defendant can reduce the potenial for a harsh sentence: horizontal plea. The defendant will plead guilty to a charge in exchange for other changes being dropped: reduced-sentence plea. The prosecutor, defense atorney, and judge might decide on a reduced sentence: avoidance- of- sigma plea. A defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in order to avoid a more serious charge that carries a sigma (form of verical plea: fundamental issues. Should plea bargaining be abolished: increase in trials, discreion will be moved to another part of process, prosecuion can become obsolete. The pretrial phase: filing of charges, iniial appearance and preliminary hearing, grand jury, indictment or informaion, arraignment, the plea, moions. Peremptory challenge: release of juror for no reason, opening statements. Evidence not presented: witnesses and evidence presented. Direct evidence- ascertainable by the 5 senses.
