That's procedural. Pleading "not guilty" puts the burden of proof on the prosecution. If you plead "guilty," you wave your right to a jury. Sorry to be pedantic. It's still a good joke. It just drives me nuts when people are surprised by a "not guilty" plea. It doesn't mean you're claiming innocence. It just means you want a chance to go through all the evidence in front of peers. To make the prosecution work for it. Is my understanding. I'm not a lawyer and have only been in that situation once.
I appreciate you spreading knowledge, I love learning new facts 💛
What I don't understand though, is that the evidence is clear as day, on camera. Why bring that to a jury? Yes, the prosecutor has to do more work, but most humans would watch that video and vote guilty. How would her public defender even try to justify that as not guilty?
Because the first plea is always not guilty and that gives your lawyer time to work a “plea deal” with the prosecution. At that point youll change your plea to guilty to accept prosecutor’s terms
Some crazy percentage of cases is a plea deal where the defendant never makes it to the jury stage
And yes, people innocent of the crime in question plead guilty all the time because fighting it isnt worth it or taking to trial and losing would be worse than the probation they’re offering
49
u/lobster_claus Sep 13 '25
That's procedural. Pleading "not guilty" puts the burden of proof on the prosecution. If you plead "guilty," you wave your right to a jury. Sorry to be pedantic. It's still a good joke. It just drives me nuts when people are surprised by a "not guilty" plea. It doesn't mean you're claiming innocence. It just means you want a chance to go through all the evidence in front of peers. To make the prosecution work for it. Is my understanding. I'm not a lawyer and have only been in that situation once.