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Friday, March 21, 2014

Why You Should Blind Plea or Open Plea

There are certain procedural matters that people just do not know about. If you ever have to go into Court for your first appearance, you have a certain number of options. The main four are:

- Work out a plea agreement with the prosecutor
- Get a new date to discuss any plea offers or try to hire an attorney
- Set case for trial
- Open Plea or Blind Plea

For minor traffic matters, almost everybody pleas or sets their case for trial. Very rarely do people open plea their case. Mainly, because people don't ever know what an open plea is.

An Open Plea or Blind Plea (it's the same thing but called different things in different courtrooms) is when you plead guilty, but have the Judge sentence you instead of taking any plea the prosecutor offers you. You see, even if you go through a jury trial and are found guilty, it's still the Judge that will sentence you. The Judge will always be the one that sentences you, so an Open Plea just cuts right to the chase.

In many counties, when you go to Court for a minor traffic offense, you will have a chance to speak to the prosecutor. The prosecutor will then make you an offer to settle your case that day. There are certain counties, mainly Cook County, where you will only speak with the Judge. When I was a prosecutor, we would have everyone who was there for Court sit in a row, and I would go down the line and speak to people about their case. I would explain to them what my offer was, and if the person did not want to fight it, almost every time they would take my offer. However, these people should have never taken my offer.

The reason they should not have taken my offer, was because it would have been more beneficial for them to blind plea or open plea. However, this practice was rarely done because very few people outside the legal profession even know this procedure exists.

My main job as a prosecutor in minor traffic cases was to get the most amount of money from defendants as I could. My boss, THE State's Attorney, would frequently make sure I was aware of this. Also, I would often times make people go to traffic safety school. Not only did I feel this was necessary (if you've been driving for a little while, it is absolutely not necessary) but it was also a way for the company that ran the traffic safety school to make money. It might not seem like it, but you getting a ticket for a minor traffic offense is a way for a whole lot of people to make money.

A prosecutor is your adversary. He or she is not your friend. He or she is not there to give you advice or to help you out in any way, shape or form. Their job is to make sure you plead guilty to what you're charged with (or get found guilty if you choose a trial) and to get the most amount of money possible from you.

A Judge's job on the other hand is not to be your enemy. While the Judge is not there to advise you and tell you what to do (that's what your attorney's job is for), a Judge has much more of an incentive to feel sorry for you and to help you out. Many Judges are elected, and if a person does come into contact with a Judge (as least those who are inclined to vote), it's mostly likely because they committed a minor traffic offense. If your only encounter with this Judge is to get your traffic ticket settled, the Judge wants to make sure your experience with him or her is as pleasant and painless as possible.

That is not to say non-elected Judges are surly. Quite the opposite. Every single Judge I had a minor traffic case in front of when I was prosecutor was always more willing to help out people who got tickets than myself or my prosecutor colleagues ever were.

Judges are human beings too, and they fully understand how much it sucks to go into Court, have to wait and sit around, and pay through the nose for a mistake. They are MUCH more sympathetic to your plight than a prosecutor ever will be. That is why it is in your best benefit to let a Judge decide your fate, as opposed to the prosecutor.

That is why you should Blind Plea or Open Plea. Because it makes much more sense to have a Judge determine what your sentence should be as opposed to a prosecutor. Plus, it gets your case settled on the first appearance.

Here is how the general procedure goes when you Blind or Open Plea your case. The Judge will ask the prosecutor to tell him or her "factors in aggravation" and what they think your sentence should be. Basically, for minor traffic offenses, the prosecutor will list every minor traffic offense you've committed, and his recommended sentence will most likely be the deal he/she offered you. Then it will be your turn. You will be asked to give the Judge "factors in mitigation." This is basically your chance to tell the Judge why you should get Court Supervision (if the prosecutor doesn't offer it), why the Court Supervision should be for less time than what the prosecutor is asking for, and why you should pay less money than what the prosecutor asked for. This is your chance to tell a sob story, and to make yourself sympathetic in front of the Judge so he grants you what you'd like.

A Blind Plea or an Open Plea works for every criminal case as well. It does not need to be for minor traffic offenses. I once had a case where a defendant was charged with Violating An Order of Protection- a Class A Misdemeanor. I didn't offer the guy Court Supervision. So his attorney just open pled the case. The Judge saw that the defendant was Court Supervision eligible and granted it to him. The defendant and his attorney were in Court for maybe five minutes at most, and the defendant got what he wanted.

So now that you are aware of what it means to Blind Plea or Open Plea your case, feel free to use this tool to your advantage if you are ever in the unfortunate circumstances where you need to go to Court.

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NOTE: Adam J. Kaplan and The Law Offices of Adam J. Kaplan are NOT your attorney. You have not entered into an agreement with The Law Offices of Adam J. Kaplan. If you would like a free consultation or to be represented by The Law Offices of Adam J. Kaplan, please click on any of the links in this section or visit the "The Law Offices of Adam J. Kaplan" section on the middle, right side of this blog. The aforementioned was meant to be solely informative, and it should not be construed as legal advice.

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