Pleading Guilty - A Bad Idea

At your first Court appearance, called an Arraignment, the Court will ask you if you want to plead Guilty or Not Guilty.  Always plead Not Guilty!  Here's why:

If you enter a Guilty Plea at your first Court appearance, you will have a criminal conviction on your record, lose your rights to possess firearms and probably have a length No Contact Order prohibiting you from going home, having contact with the alleged victim and possibly your own kids.  There could be jail time as well as fines and the requirement to get into Domestic Violence Classes.

You would be getting all of these penalties without having a chance to see if the Prosecutor can really prove the crime or if there are any legal defenses you can use to protect yourself.  You would also be giving up the ability to negotiate with the Prosecutor for a less serious crime in the event you are guilty.

If you plead Not Guilty and later change your mind, the Judge will not use the fact that you entered a Not Guilty at Arraignment against you.