Even if the prosecutor has offered the plea bargain, and the defendant agreed, the judge is under no obligation to approve or accept the plea. During the plea hearing, Alford told the judge that he didnt commit the murder, and that he was only entering a plea of guilty to avoid the death penalty. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. So what is an Alford plea, and why does it matter? If a person is facing a serious charge, and does not want to admit their guilt, but wants to take advantage of a favorable offer by the Commonwealth, they can enter an Alford plea. How long is it safe to use nicotine lozenges? allocution hearing / allocute. Henry Alford died in prison, just five years after the High Courts ruling. v. Henry C. ALFORD. What Does an Innocence Man Have to Do to Go Free? An Alford guilty plea is a plea of guilty without admission of guilt. [21] Drennan commented, "We have lots of laws, but human interaction creates unique circumstances and the law has to adapt. Henry C. Alford Sixteen months later, in fall of 2008, the State prosecutor informed the judge that the State was declining to prosecute, and Owens walked out of jail completely exonerated. Answer (1 of 3): I imagine that you could find the meaning of an Alford Plea online with 10 seconds of effort, but here goes: The Alford Plea is a strange middle ground between the normal "guilty" amd "not guilty" pleas one can enter with a criminal court. To explore this concept, consider the following Alford plea definition. 17 purpose. It is time to analyze whether or not the Alford plea is serving the purpose it was intended to serve, or if it is inhibiting the due process of law. The Court went on to concede that it may be in the best interest of a defendant to accept a guilty plea in order to minimize his exposure to imprisonment or . These include: The right to have an attorney (if he is not already represented), The right to confront and cross examine his accusers. In the judges review of the plea, he must determine that the defendant is knowingly and intelligently accepting the guilty, or Alford, plea. Plead Guilty. The system should not force him to lie under oath, nor to go to trial with no promise of the ultimate outcome concerning guilt or punishment. What an Alford plea offers-and what a no contest plea does not-is the opportunity to state on the record that you maintain your innocence. The punishment is the same, so refusing to comply with probation will bring the same punishment regardless of why. An Alford plea is "a guilty plea entered by a criminal defendant who does not admit guilt but nevertheless pleads guilty as part of a plea bargain.". The Alford Plea originated from a 1963 trial in North Carolina. 18 (2) A persistent felony offender in the second degree is a person who is more than 19 twenty-one (21) years of age and who stands convicted of a felony after having . Etymology []. | Privacy Decided Nov. 23, 1970. The military provides an accused facing court-martial with a qualified defense attorney. If the above bullet points are followed, then the judge presiding over the hearing is likely going to accept the plea. Meetings by appointment only | 1-414-383-6700 |, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), 4 Tips to Avoid Becoming the Victim of a Credit Card Scam. His plea was accepted and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Today Alford pleas are accepted in every U.S. state except Indiana, Michigan and New Jersey and the United States military. The effect of an Alford plea includes the obvious benefit of a getting a break on a potentially severe sentence; it may also serve to protect the defendant from being charged with other related crimes. If a defendant is innocent but still chooses the plea deal out of the interest of security, their attorney is no longer in an ethical dilemma of whether or not they should allow their innocent client to plead to something they did not commit, with Alford because it allows them to still maintain their innocence. An Alford plea is a guilty plea in which a defendant maintains their innocence and does not admit to the criminal act they are accused of, but admits that the prosecution has sufficient evidence . alford plea. U.S. Most people havent heard of an Alford plea but its a type of plea many people accused of crimes in Wisconsin use. Henry Alford indicted for first degree murder in 1963; maintained his innocence but pleaded guilty to second degree murder due to the significance of the evidence. Montaldo, Charles. However, most prosecutors will not offer an Alford plea because it looks bad: "Hey! 1 The court appointed an attorney to represent him, and this attorney questioned all but one of the various witnesses who appellee said would substantiate his claim of innocence. Things get out of hand, and neighbors call the police when they hear a gunshot. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain their innocence, but acknowledge that pleading guilty is in their best interest, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. On the advice of his attorney, Alford pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second degree murder. Photo Credit: Netflix. He later sued the State for the 21 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned and was awarded a settlement of 9 million dollars. https://www.propublica.org/article/what-does-an-innocent-man-have-to-do-alford-plea-guilty(accessed December 11, 2018). The trial court verdict was then vacated. Defendants who take Alford pleas also may believe they are receiving a deal at the time, but it causes damaging effects once they are released from prison. An Alford plea is a plea that may be entered by a defendant who has been charged with a crime. In 1970, he agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder but he did it for a reason. "[10], The Alford guilty plea is "a plea of guilty containing a protestation of innocence". In 2006, new DNA evidence surfaced regarding this crime that showed that both semen and blood samples found on the crime scene were not matches to either Owens or Thompson. [18] He emphasizes that when allowing these pleas, "trial counsel should establish as strong a factual basis as possible", in order to minimize the possible negative outcomes to "the public's perception of the administration of justice within the military".[18]. From the case of Kennedy v.Frazier, 178 W.Va. 10, 357 S.E.2d 43 (1987), in which the procedure was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.. Noun []. Both nolo contendere and Alford pleas have the same consequences as a guilty plea. Copyright 2023 The University of Alabama Montaldo, Charles. The Alford Plea was created in 1970, at the time Henry C. Alford was indicted for first degree murder(5). Whenever a defendant in a Nevada criminal case enters a guilty plea, the judge asks them, "Are you pleading guilty because . With this new information, both men were potentially up for a retrial, and having this in mind, State prosecutors offered both men Alford Pleas. A defendant who enters an Alford plea pleads guilty but claims to be innocent. [18][20] Alford was sentenced to 30 years in prison after the trial judge accepted the plea bargain and ruled that the defendant had been adequately advised by his defense lawyer. As we already mentioned, Michael Peterson is, without a doubt, the most famous example of an Alford plea in the 21st century so far. [18], Alford appealed and requested a new trial, arguing he was forced into a guilty plea because he was afraid of receiving a death sentence. Rule 11 essentially provides a list of topics that the Court is required to address when advising a defendant who is entering a guilty plea. She is charged with robbery and assault. The crime is still on his record and he remains a convicted felon. Tweet. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Doing so would invite the police into Johnnys home, where he had a great deal of evidence of his drug-related activities. As it turns out, Johnny is a local drug distributor doling out drugs to local dealers for sales, and paying the wholesaler his cut. "[21] The Court allowed the guilty plea with a simultaneous protestation of innocence only because there was enough evidence to show that the prosecution had a strong case for a conviction and the defendant was entering such a plea to avoid this possible sentencing. Throughout time, the use of the Alford plea has begun to show that practically, this deal has benefited the prosecution greatly, to the detriment to the defendant as well as the justice system as a whole. | Data Access Request 5. "[29] In the 1999 South Carolina Supreme Court case State v. Gaines, the Court held that Alford guilty pleas were to be held valid even in the absence of a specific on-the-record ruling that the pleas were voluntary provided that the sentencing judge acted appropriately in accordance with the rules for acceptance of a plea made voluntarily by the defendant. Alford pleas are typically made by those who don't want to go trial for a number of reasons, according to NOLO. The Supreme Court would go on to uphold Alford's . An Alford plea, also known as a "best-interests plea," registers a formal admission of guilt towards charges in criminal court while the defendant simultaneously expresses their innocence toward those same charges. Like the similarnolo contendereplea, an Alford plea skips the full process of a criminal trial because the defendant agrees to accept all the ramifications of a guilty verdict (i.e. In other words, an Alford plea is the same as pleading guilty while also claiming to be innocent. Importance and Purpose of Plea Agreement Advisements. [26] Defendants usually enter an Alford guilty plea if they want to avoid a possible worse sentence were they to lose the case against them at trial. "[15] The book Plea Bargaining's Triumph: A History of Plea Bargaining in America published by Stanford University Press defines the plea as one in "which the defendant adheres to his/her claim of innocence even while allowing that the government has enough evidence to prove his/her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt". Plea Best Not Taken: Why Criminal Defendants Should Avoid Taking the Alford Plea. Can stimulating the vagus nerve help with tinnitus? The court is within its rights to find the defendant guilty, and the trial can result in a conviction. He pleaded guilty to second degree murder so as to avoid the death penalty. In the instance of Owens own civil trial, it was uncovered that Owens attorney had not been made aware of Thompsons many changing stories (Thompsons testimony against Owens was a large part of his conviction) as well as other witnesses faltering testimony. Although the theory of the Alford plea may seem positive facially, in practice, this plea is often abused or creates negative results from its use. However, in many states, such as Massachusetts, a plea which "admits sufficient facts" more typically results in the case being continued without a finding and later dismissed. Following this ruling, Alford petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, which upheld the initial ruling, and subsequently to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that Alford's plea was not voluntary, because it was made under fear of the death penalty.