Guilty Pleas

There is one situation where a plea of guilty may be advantageous to you, but it is risky. Guilty pleas are best suited for offences like parking, red light camera, and no seatbelt (passenger only) tickets that do not affect your driving record or insurance. With these types of tickets, the only bad thing is the fine. If you can avoid it or reduce it significantly, then the conviction will be easier to live with.

As the prosecution is going through the guilty pleas, notice how the justice handles the fines. Often, they recognize that you have already paid an economic penalty by taking time off work to attend court. They also acknowledge that you have not taken up the court's time with a trial. If you notice that your justice is suspending or greatly reducing the fines for every guilty plea then it may be worthwhile to plead guilty in the hope that he will suspend your fine too. Again, this works best for tickets that do not affect your driving record or insurance.

Joint Submissions

Joint Submissions are also known as Pre-Trial Agreements or Resolution Agreements. It is where you and the prosecutor agree that you will plead guilty and both of you will recommend to the justice what the fine should be. So for example, if you have a $100 parking ticket, you can agree that you will plead guilty and you both will recommend a reduced fine to $30.

Another example, at pre-trial, the prosecutor may offer you a reduced charge. So instead of speeding 20km/hr over the limit, you both agree you will plead guilty to speeding 15km/hr over the limit.

Risky Business

If you are going to plead guilty, you must understand how the process works. As mentioned above, there is some risk. The prosecutor has no control over your sentence. In other words they do not decide what the fine will be. It is sometimes up to the justice. This is the key factor for a guilty plea.

Some fines are set by statue. In other words the justice cannot change the fine amount. For example, a speeding fine is based on how fast you were going. The justice looks up the kilometres on a table and administers the corresponding fine amount.

Some fines have a range, for example, "an amount not to exceed $500". In this case any amount under $500 can be given. Some fines have a minimum amount that a justice cannot go below except in extremely rare circumstances. (A full explanation on fines is covered here.)

In the last example, where there is a range to the fine, the justice can decide the amount regardless of what you and the prosecutor might agree to. This is where the risk comes in. Although you have agreed to plead guilty and you think you know what the fine will be, the justice may think otherwise.

A joint submission should not be rejected unless it is contrary to the public interest and the sentence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. (A summary of the law on this point can be found here). If the justice thinks you are getting too much of a good deal, they can reject it.

For example, in the following case, R. v. Fong, 2004 the defendant plead guilty to driving with no insurance which normally has a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $25,000. However a joint agreement with the prosecutor recommended a fine of $2,000. The court balked. Even though the court acknowledged the defendant was a poor student and the fine severe, the court fined him $5,000 anyway and considered it appropriate as the minimum fine amount was set to discourage people from driving without insurance.

The other point to note is that you cannot go back. Having plead guilty, you have given up your right to a trial. You are now at the mercy of the justice during sentencing. However you can minimize the fine and the risk by following the helpful tips in the Sentencing section.

Poll the Court

If the prosecutor did not have enough time to meet with everyone prior to the start of court, he may poll the courtroom to see if anyone else wishes to plead guilty. Even if you told the prosecutor you wanted a trial, you can change your mind at this point. You can also do it later when you are called up for your trial. It is usually best to plead guilty after all the other guilty pleas are dealt with. You will have the benefit of seeing how the justice has handled the guilty pleas. Was she lenient of severe? If she was not giving anyone a break, the guilty plea will not be your best option.

Once the guilty pleas are dealt with, the prosecutor will move on to the not guilty pleas (which means people who want a trial).