Safe Havens

(B)  Legal Basis for Plea to Offense Unrelated to Facts of the Case.  It is lawful, however, for a defendant to enter a plea to an offense even though s/he maintains s/he is factually innocent of the offense.  The law allows him or her to make a tactical decision that accepting a plea bargain will be in his or her interests, as opposed to taking the case to trial, even though s/he believes s/he is innocent of the charges.  The client may make this tactical decision to avoid worse consequences (criminal or immigration) if the case is fought and lost.  The client can simply enter a plea of guilty pursuant to judicial decisions[78] without admitting actual guilt.  Thus, the parties can agree, with the court’s permission, that the defendant enter a plea to any mutually acceptable offense, even if it is factually unrelated to the charges or the defendant’s conduct, and thus avoid adverse immigration consequences.  Under federal law, the same procedure is technically permissible, although many district judges resist or refuse to accept a plea where the defendant maintains innocence.  In general, the more closely related the negotiated offense is to the offense committed, the easier it is to convince prosecution and court to accept the disposition.

[78] People v. West, 3 Cal.3d 595, 91 Cal.Rptr. 385 (1970); North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970).