What is a plea hearing?

A plea hearing is a time to enter a guilty or no contest plea. In most cases, you will go right to sentencing afterwards. Some plea hearings can be very brief and over in ten minutes or less while others, particularly when it is a serious felony, can take over an hour. At the hearing the judge will go over standard paperwork (more on this later), and ask you questions to make sure that you are in the right state of mind and able to enter a plea. It's pretty normal for a judge to talk to you about your education, history of drug or alcohol use, and any mental health conditions you are struggling with or medications that you take. During the hearing the judge will go over the legal rights you are giving up, the minimum and maximum penalties that you face, and some of the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction. Some judges will ask you to describe what you are pleading guilty to and give you a little quiz about the potential penalties and your legal rights. Our attorneys will prepare you in advance for what the judges will expect you to know.

Before any plea hearing our staff will reach out to you to prepare basic plea paperwork. At the very least you can expect to go through two forms, the plea questionnaire and waiver, and the notice of your right to appeal. The questionnaire gathers basic information about our client and advises them of the minimum and maximum penalties, the elements of the offense, and the legal rights that anyone gives up when they enter into a plea. We also include our calculation for sentence credit on this form so it is clear. The notice of intent advises clients about their basic rights to appeal and the timeframe for when they need to do so, which in most cases is within twenty days from sentencing. In La Crosse and Monroe Counties it is very common to also do a written statement of negotiated plea, which puts a plea agreement into writing. Felony resolutions require a form that talks about temporary restrictions on voting and diversion agreements require reviewing a separate written agreement describing the diversion. In most cases plea paperwork will take about half an hour, but for complex resolutions it is common to require more time to complete.

Before finalizing a plea, the judge is required to allow alleged victims to speak and be heard. Although it is rare, judges have the power to reject a proposed plea agreement if they do not believe it is in the community interest, and this will occasionally happen when an alleged victim is dissatisfied with an agreement. A judge can also reject a plea agreement if they do not believe that a client understands the consequences of what they are pleading guilty to or are not competent to enter a plea. In most cases a plea hearing happens as planned and our client goes to sentencing.