Competence To Plead Guilty
It has been estimated that approximately 90 percent of all criminal cases in the United States are settled through guilty pleas, rather than a trial.
In Godinez v. Moran, 1993, the Supreme Court held that the competency standard for pleading guilty or waiving the right to counsel is the same as the competency standard for proceeding to trial as established in Dusky v. United States. A higher standard of competency is not required.
Read more about this topic: Competency Evaluation (law)
Famous quotes containing the words plead guilty, competence, plead and/or guilty:
“When trouble comes no mother should have to plead guilty alone. The pediatricians, psychologists, therapists, goat herders, fathers, and peer groups should all be called to the bench as well. . . .”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
—Bible: New Testament, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6.
“In law it is a good policy to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you can not.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory
Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)