Can I change my my plea if I haven’t been sentenced yet?
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Can I change my my plea if I haven’t been sentenced yet?
I have been charged with resisting arrest. I gave up my right to an attorne, and pleaded guilty because I did do it. However, I’ve learned that a guilty plea means I can’t negotiate at all. We’ve learned that my medication are a big cause of my actions, so my house supervisor wants to get an attorney to help negotiate. So, it it possible to change my plea to not guilty, as long as I have not been sentenced, and how would I go about doing that? Can I get back my right to an attorney?
Asked on June 4, 2012 under Criminal Law, Idaho
Answers:
Kevin Bessant / Law Office of Kevin Bessant & Associates
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Once a plea of guilty has been entered, the only way to withdraw a guilty plea is based on the Judge's finding that the plea was "not" entered "knowingly", "willingly", and "intelligently" by the defendant. Your best argument to the Judge to help your plea be withdrawn is that you were without the advice of counsel, you had no idea what you were doing when you plead guilty, and that you request the court to reinstate your original not guilty plea. This must be done as soon as possible because most courts have a time frame in which a defendant can petition the court to withdraw their guilty plea, this is usually less than 90 days from the date the plea was entered.
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