A Blind Plea Is a Plea to a Judge without a Plea Deal
Video Transcribed: What is a blind plea in Oklahoma criminal law? I am Stuart Ericson, Wagoner attorney. A blind plea is a plea to a judge without a plea deal. People have watched TV shows, Law and Order, and there’s a plea deal where the prosecution offers a deal to a defendant. A normal plea deal will say, Hey, the deal is, if you plead guilty, you get 10 years in prison. And the defendant, you would say yes or no to that.
A blind plea is when you plead guilty to the judge without the benefit of a plea deal. So it’s called a blind plea because it’s unknown. You don’t know what the judge is going to do. The judge in a blind plea has the full sentencing range.
So for example, first-degree burglary, the punishment range is seven years to 20 years. If the DA’s office was offering 20 years in and you’re like, no, that’s ridiculous, 20 years, not going to plead guilty to 20 years.
If you have some sort of hope or desire that a judge might do better, then you would consider a blind plea. So you enter your plea blind to the judge, there would be a pre-sentence investigation done where DOC would investigate your background, your childhood, your employment history, your drug history, military history, if any, all those sorts of things to present to the judge, and then the judge would make his decision.
Obviously, this is a fairly rare type of plea deal because it’s scary. You don’t know what the judge is going to do. But there are times when it is valuable and it is an option in every criminal case. So if you have any questions about criminal charges in Wagoner, contact me, Stuart Ericson, at Wagonerlawyer.com.
