A blind plea is a plea of guilty before a judge without a prior sentencing agreement between the defense attorney and the prosecutor. Because there is no agreement, you are unable to determine what the sentence will be and therefore “blind”.
In most cases, a blind plea is extremely risky because the sentence or punishment is completely in the judge’s discretion with no indication as to how he or she will rule. However, there are rare instances where a blind plea is appropriate.
If a case is currently charged as a misdemeanor, a blind plea may be in a client’s best interest to prevent the prosecutor from upgrading the charges to a felony. For example, if you are charged with misdemeanor Battery and believe the case may be upgraded to a Felony Aggravated Battery, a blind plea in misdemeanor court is a clever way of avoiding an otherwise harsh penalty. This same principle applies to DUI and Drug cases as well. For more information on Blind Pleas or for a Free Case Review, contact The Law Offices of Matt Fakhoury.
The Law Offices of Matt Fakhoury is a Chicago based criminal defense firm serving the Chicago Metro area as well as the suburbs and collar counties. ILDefense.com
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