There is no such thing as a “plea of guilty with an explanation.” If you feel the need to explain your reason for pleading guilty to the judge, forget it. If you plead guilty, you are guilty—no “ands,” no “ifs,” and especially no “buts.” You are simply guilty and will be sentenced as such. There is no winking in criminal law.
In a case involving a group of defendants in D.C., the government offered the defendants a “global” or group plea (everyone is offered the same plea and all must take it or no one gets it). The judge referred to the offer as the “deal of a lifetime.” Under the circumstances, it was hardly the “deal of al lifetime” but the defendants took the plea bargain (an offer of 48-60 months) rather than run the risk of trial. In doing so, they had to supply the government with the missing element it needed to obtain a conviction. The “element” was proof of the defendants’ knowledge that the drugs they were accused of dealing were being shipped to the United States—the only way dealing in another country is a crime in the United States. The government claimed they had the evidence, but the defendants never saw it.
Many of the defendants assumed the judge would get the big picture, that the defendants were providing the government with the convictions it could not get otherwise, and impose the minimum 48 month sentence. But that was not the way the judge saw it. He did not want to sentence the defendants to anything less than the 60 month maximum, but grudgingly he persuaded himself to give them a six month reduction, the same reduction he gives to all deportable aliens.
A judge has to believe the defendant is guilty, because that belief goes to the very essence of the criminal process. A judge cannot take pleas of guilty from people who are innocent, so to suggest that you are pleading guilty as an accommodation, out of fear, or as a favor to the prosecution, would be repellent. It happens, not often, I hasten to add, but it happened in D.C. and the defendants and the lawyers learned a lesson.
When a judge accepts your plea of guilty, he truly believes you are guilty. He does not care why you pled. He is going to sentence you as a convicted felon. If you feel you will get a reduced sentence by explaining why you are pleading guilty, save your breath. It is the same thing with a supposedly good plea bargain. If you need to explain why it is a good plea bargain, then it is not