Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Tennessee criminal defense attorneys assist clients with a variety of charges throughout East Tennessee. Our lawyers handle criminal cases such as homicide, theft, drug offenses, assault, juvenile cases, DUI’s, and traffic citations in the Johnson City, Newport, Sevierville, Knoxville, Maryville, and Morristown areas. Whenever you are charged with a crime, you must make many important decisions during the criminal process with the guidance of your attorney. Many clients question the difference between certain pleas.

Under Tennessee law, A defendant may plead not guilty, guilty, or nolo contendere. The court shall enter a plea of not guilty if a defendant refuses to plead or if a defendant corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership fails to appear. Tenn. R. Crim. P. RULE 11 (2007)

By pleading guilty, the defendant consents to a judgment of conviction entered without trial. The accused thereby relinquishes the right to be tried by a jury and at that trial the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and the right against compelled self-incrimination. Consequently, before accepting a plea of guilty and a waiver of these rights, the court must determine that the accused is acting voluntarily and understands the charges. The plea itself is an admission of guilt and the accepted plea is essentially a criminal conviction.

By pleading not guilty, the defendant requires the government to prove its case, thereby placing in issue each material element specified in the indictment. This plea also preserves many constitutional rights, including the right to jury trial, the privilege against self-incrimination, and the right to confront accusers.

Similar to a plea of guilty, the plea of nolo contendere involves a waiver of the right to a trial of any kind. A nolo plea is a formal declaration that the accused will not contest the charge and it has the same legal effect as a guilty plea in terms of its finality. Therefore, judgement following entry of a nolo contendere plea is a criminal conviction and usually may be admitted as in other proceedings where the fact of conviction has legal significance.

In contrast to the plea of guilty, however, the legal consequences of a nolo plea are different in one critical respect. The nolo plea usually may not be used in a later civil case as proof of the fact that the defendant committed the offense. That is, the plea of nolo may not be used as direct evidence of liability in a civil suit. This feature explains why a person facing both civil and criminal proceedings might prefer to plead nolo contendere to resolve the criminal matter without compromising the subsequent civil proceeding. Criminal Procedure: The Post-Investigative Process, Cases And Materials 11-12 (Neil P. Cohen & Donald J. Hall, 2nd ed., Lexis 2000).

The accused does not have an absolute right to plead nolo contendere. Your criminal defense attorney will further discuss the implications of how you should plea in your particular case.