Also known as: non vult contendere · nolo contendere · no contest plea
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A plea in a criminal proceeding by which a defendant accepts conviction without admitting factual guilt. The plea requires court consent after consideration of the parties' views and the public interest in the effective administration of justice. It produces the same conviction and sentencing consequences as a guilty plea but prevents the plea from being used as an admission in later civil or criminal cases.
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Bobby faced criminal environmental charges and entered a nolo contendere plea. Byron later sued Bobby and Gold Growers in federal court for nuisance and trespass arising from the same incident. Byron offered the nolo plea to prove liability. The court excluded the evidence because a nolo contendere plea is inadmissible against the defendant in a subsequent civil action.
Sophie represented Preston and four other protestors charged with misdemeanors. The prosecutor offered a package deal requiring every client to plead guilty or nolo contendere or the offer would be withdrawn for all. Sophie presented the aggregate terms in a single group meeting and collected signed forms. Preston later challenged the plea because the clients had not received individualized disclosures of how each person's nolo participation would bind the others.
Sharon was indicted in the District of State A. After arrest in the District of State B she filed a written statement requesting to plead nolo contendere and waive trial in State A. One United States attorney approved the transfer in writing. The second United States attorney refused written approval. The court denied transfer because both prosecutors must provide written consent before the case file can move for disposition on a nolo plea.
A corporate officer entered a nolo contendere plea to securities fraud. In a later civil suit the plaintiff offered the resulting conviction to prove the officer made misrepresentations. The court excluded the judgment because a conviction entered on a nolo contendere plea is not admissible under the hearsay exception for prior convictions to prove an essential fact.
Leo was indicted for insider trading. At arraignment his lawyer orally challenged the indictment's specificity and simultaneously announced an intent to enter a nolo contendere plea. The judge accepted the plea without ruling on the challenge. On appeal the court held that the voluntary nolo plea waived the nonjurisdictional defect.
A defendant entered a nolo contendere plea after making statements during discussions with prosecutors. The government later sought to use those statements at sentencing. The court permitted the use because the defendant had validly waived the protections that ordinarily keep plea statements from being admitted against the defendant.
A defendant may plead not guilty, guilty, or nolo contendere with the court's consent. The court must consider the parties' views and the public interest before accepting a nolo contendere plea.
Supporting sources
A nolo contendere plea results in conviction and sentencing but does not constitute an admission of factual guilt that can be introduced against the defendant in later civil or criminal proceedings.
…the Texas Constitution. Tex. Const., Art. 1, § 3a. Those contentions were rejected. The petitioners, having entered a plea of nolo contendere , were each fined $200 and assessed court costs of $141.25. App. to Pet. for Cert. 107a-110a. The Court of Appeals for the Texas Fourteenth District considered the petitioners' federal…
…and aggravation of punishment, including the record of any prior criminal convictions and pleas of guilty or plea
…pleaded guilty, Rule 11 read as follows: “A defendant may plea
…by death"); S.C.Code Ann. § 16-3-655(C)(1) (Supp.2007) ("If the [defendant] has previously been convicted of, pled guilty or nolo contendere to, or adjudicated delinquent for first degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor who is less than eleven years of age . . . he must be punished by death or by imprisonment for life");…
…see Pet. for Cert. 10-11), approximately 92.2% of the convictions in the Ninth Circuit were secured through plea
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A lawyer may not participate in an aggregated agreement as to nolo contendere pleas unless each client gives informed consent in a signed writing that discloses the existence, nature, and participation of every person involved.
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A voluntary nolo contendere plea generally waives nonjurisdictional defects such as lack of specificity in the indictment because the plea is a formal response to the charging document rather than a preserved pretrial motion.
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Termination of a proceeding by a nolo contendere plea is not itself determinative that the director failed to meet the required standard of conduct, but indemnification remains unavailable for liability in a derivative suit unless the director satisfied the good-faith and reasonable-belief standards.
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