You're supposed to plead NOT GUILTY (even if you did it).

When you appear for your arraignment, did you know you’re SUPPOSED to plead Not Guilty? If you don’t plead Not Guilty, did you know you could get the maximum punishment?

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
00:40 – What does it mean if you plead Not Guilty?
01:20 – How are you presumed innocent?
02:19 – Will pleading Not Guilty get your more punishment?
02:52 – True Story from the Courtroom
04:56 – Simple Math CliffsNotesTM

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If you get arrested, and you know you’ve done what you’re accused of doing, are you supposed to plead guilty or plead not guilty?

Let’s set the scene: You’re out celebrating one night with your friends, and you end up having a little too much fun. One drink turns into five, and before you know it, you’re under arrest for Public Intoxication.

Just like anyone else charge with a crime, you’ll have to appear in front of a Judge at an arraignment and you’ll be asked, “Do you plead guilty or do you plead not guilty?”

You don’t want to lie to the Judge, so you consider pleading Guilty. I mean, you were pretty drunk and you were definitely in public. What you do not realize is that you’re about to make a mistake that you’ll regret for years because you’re actually Not Guilty.

What does it mean if you plead Not Guilty?

Contrary to what some TV personalities preach, if you plead Not Guilty, it does NOT mean, “I didn’t do it.” As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even mean, “I’m actually Innocent.”

When you plead Not Guilty, it simply means:

“I want a chance to see the evidence against me before making a decision.” or

“The Government has the burden of proving my guilt, and I’m not doing their job for them.” or

“I want to speak with an attorney and consider all of my legal options first.” or

“I am presumed innocent and I’m not going to volunteer to be guilty.”

The beauty about the presumption of innocence is that you never have to explain to the Judge, Jury, or the District Attorney why you chose to plead Not Guilty.

How are you presumed innocent?

If you’ve watched COPS, you’ve heard the narrator say that “all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.” Well, that statement is actually false.
The problem with that statement is when you say until, then you presume that the suspects will be proven guilty in a court of law at some point. It’s like saying, it’s daytime until it’s nighttime. Yes, it is currently daytime, but eventually it will be nighttime.

That’s not how our justice system works. That’s not how any of this works.

According to Texas Criminal Law, all persons are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Technically, what the law says is, “All persons are presumed to be innocent and no person may be convicted of an offense unless each element of the offense is proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”

–See Presumption of Innocence. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 38.03

At this stage of your case, the State has merely pointed a finger at you and accused you of a crime and hasn’t presented ANY evidence against you, much less proved any guilt. Why would you plead guilty to a crime without any evidence?

Will pleading Not Guilty get you more punishment?

Absolutely not! This might seem rude, but it is downright dumb to plead Guilty at your arraignment because you throw yourself at the mercy of a Court that you don’t understand.

This might seem surprising, but THE JUDGE DOES NOT WANT YOU TO PLEAD GUILTY AT YOUR ARRAIGNMENT! I hate using all-caps, but it is that important. It’s like going to the Judge and saying, “I did it, I need to be punished, please punish me!”

The Judge will likely even tell you that it is a good idea to consult with an attorney first and highly recommend against pleading Guilty at your arraignment.

True Story from the Courtroom

If I hadn’t seen this happen with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. At arraignments, our Judge had a practice of providing everyone with initial instructions that he expected everyone to plead Not Guilty so they could have an opportunity to speak with an attorney first. One time I was at an arraignment and a Defendant was about 30 minutes late so he didn’t hear the Judge’s initial instructions when slipped in and sat in the back.

Later on in the morning, Mr. Late Defendant’s case was finally called, so he approaches the bench to answer the Judge. The Judge began, “Sir, you’ve been charged with burglary of a vehicle. The maximum punishment for this crime is 1 year in jail and a $4,000 fine. How do you plead, Guilty or Not Guilty?”

Mr. Late Defendant says, “uhh, Guilty?”

The Judge looks over his glasses and asks, “Are you sure?”

Mr. Late Defendant says, “umm, yes sir.”

The Judge then says...

Music:
All I Am – Dyalla
Music provided via YouTube Studio Audio Library

[Jinkypigs]

LOL. Yeah i trust an idiotic greedy usa-ian lawyer like you who are out to charge sky high fees eh. And trust you to say not plea guilty even if you are. What a typical douchebag lawyer.

[dojoswitzer]

When I was a kid, TV shows gave the impression that pleading guilty offered a more lenient punishment than pleading not guilty and being found guilty.

[detroitmetrotransparency]

I was pretty young and got pulled over with too many people in my car. Turns out one of them had a half full bottle of rum on them that they decided to shove in between the back seats. The cops find it and issue me a ticket for open inbox and failure to yield. Fast forward to court and the DA tells me she'll drop the failure to yield if I plead guilty to open intox. I told her it wasn't mine, she said it didn't matter because I was in control of the vehicle. So I did. The judge asked why I was driving with open intox and I told him I was unaware of it being there. Judge decided to change my plea for me and I went home with no charges because they were unable to produce a police report. Never admit guilt.

[TylerDurden-oyhm]

That judge was a real one..much respect to him

[frankroper]

I agree with everything he is saying! Cop told me decades ago to always plead not guilty! Where I disagree with the justice system is you are "presumed" to be innocent until proven guilty! You are arrested and booked and jailed and your name is read out to the public over the radio the next day. Then when you go to court and are found innocent you have to pay to have your record expunged! How can that be a presumption of innocence? The radio should announce you were found innocent and your record should be expunged and your fingerprints should be shredded! Then you should be paid for any time in the slammer! Then I would say that is presumed innocent! The system is corrupt!

[kasbakgaming]

I think the real lesson here is don't be late to court

[MorrowPlays]

Pleading Not Guilty is not equivilant to a lie. and your NOT GUILTY plea can't be used against you. but your GUILTY plea CAN BE, and very easily.

[ChelseaSimpson-qz]

Have court soon for 2 counts of felony theft 2nd degree from my ex place of employment that i 100% DID NOT DO. I am terrified i am going to be found guilty based off of the lies from my previous employers and have been researching EVERYTHING. i am SO glad i came across your videos!

[XgilPlay]

Ahh, so it's not "Innocent until proven guilty". It's "Innocent *UNLESS* proven guilty"

[mynameisnotbob]

Just watched a documentary about 2 guys who got felony murder charges because they were at the scene when someone was shot and killed. One pled guilty and one didn’t. Through appeals it was decided the situation didn’t equal felony murder. The guy who pled not guilty was released…the guy who pled guilty is doing serious time with no options because he already pled guilty.

[Fircasice]

Why would you punish someone harder who is willing to come clean and own up to their crime? What a fucked up "justice" system.

[NidgeDFX]

I tell my son if he ever in trouble shut his mouth and the only thing he saying is "I ain't saying nothing, call my dad/lawyer."

[wd]

I've had a judge refuse my guilty plea and enter a not guilty on behalf until I actually had an attorney two weeks later as the first one refused to take my case

[anthonyvasquezactor]

"When the going gets tough, you don't want a criminal lawyer. You want a CRIMINAL lawyer."
- Breaking Bad

[sethennis]

I’m glad the judge let him change his plea. In a different country I was recently cleared by the persecutor office of some serious crimes I didn’t do after nearly half a year. Most importantly don’t say shit during your interview

[btbraden]

Idk. When I was arrested I talked to the States Attorney before the court date. We made a deal that if I plead guilty I’d be placed in a diversion program. I did that and my case was dropped and now I have no criminal record

[Felixxxxxxxxx]

In Sweden the court still have to prove that you are guilty even if you say that you are. The reason why is because you might be innocent to the crime even if you belive you are. Also, they don't ask you to plead guilty before you have seen the evidence. There is no wonder why there are so many Americans in prison

[Superdj_]

Pleading guilty is telling everyone you deserve jail time, as opposed to continuing the argument and demonstrating opposed people your innocence.

[billydelacey]

The Founding Fathers believed that due process is more important than any conviction.

[LadyWriter]

I'm having a blast going through your videos! So much info and you are a wonderful speaker! Thanks for your channel!