The Plea in Abeyance | Ogden Criminal Defense

The legal system can be a very confusing and foreign place for most people. People new to the system can feel like a fish out of water as they watch others like lawyers, the court staff, and repeat offenders who look like they know exactly what they are doing. Along with all the wordy criminal statutes that defendants have to start trying to understand there is a whole new vocabulary of processes and outcomes that don’t make any sense to them. One of these is the plea in abeyance.

What is a Plea in Abeyance?

The first thing to know about a plea in abeyance is that it is a good thing, in most criminal cases it is actually the best possible outcome or the best likely outcome. While the world plea makes some people cringe because they don’t want to plead guilty the reality is that the process is set up to save time, money, and headaches as it provides for some certainty in a very uncertain system. When a defendant enters into a plea in abeyance they are exchanging their guilty plea with the prosecutor for certain terms. The guilty plea is held in abeyance for a set period, usually somewhere between 6 and 18 months, and then if all the terms are met the case is dismissed, the guilty plea is basically thrown away and the case does not go on your record. So the take away from a plea in abeyance is that you can end up with a clean record and it will look like this incident never happened.

Getting help Getting Your Plea in Abeyance

The most common cases that allow for a plea in abeyance are drug related cases that involve possession and paraphernalia, however, it is possible to get a plea in abeyance in other types of cases as well. If are being charged with a crime whether it be a violent crime or a drug crime then call Ogden Criminal Defense Lawyer today, we can help you try and get a plea agreement that will work for you and provide you with the outcome you deserve.

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