Legal meaning of Plea, Guilty, Not Guilty, Jurisdiction, Alibi, Autrefois Convict and Acquit

Plea is a formal statement by or on behalf of a defendant or prisoner, stating guilt or innocence in response to a charge, offering an allegation of fact, or claiming that a point of law should apply.

KINDS OF PLEASE

1. Plea Of Not Guilty
2. Plea Of Guilty
3. Plea To The Jurisdiction
4. Autrefois Convict
5. Autrefois Acquit
6. Alibi

Explanations on the Kinds Of Plea coming up in the subsequent updates.

Legal meaning of Autrefois Convict  and Acquit

PLEA OF NOT GUILTY

A plea of not guilty means you are informing the Court that you deny guilt or that you have a good defense in your case. A plea of not guilty requires that a trial be held. The State must prove the guilt of the defendant “beyond a reasonable doubt” of the offense charged.

PLEA OF GUILTY

A plea of guilty is a formal and conclusive admission of all elements of that charge. Upon such a plea no further proof of the case against the accused is necessary. The plea must be by the accused himself and not by counsel on his behalf.

PLEA OF THE JURISDICTION

A plea to the jurisdiction is plea that seeks dismissal of a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. A plea to the jurisdiction contests the trial court’s power to determine the subject matter of the case. This plea may either take the form that no Court in Ghana has the jurisdiction to try the accused or it may take the form that, the particular court before which he/she is appearing has no jurisdiction to try the case.

AUTREFOIS CONVICT

A plea of “autrefois convict” (Previously Convicted) is one in which the defendant claims to have been previously convicted of the same offence with the same “facts” and that he or she therefore cannot be tried for it again.

AUTREFOIS ACQUIT

A plea of “autrefois acquit” (Previously Acquitted) is a defendant’s plea stating that he or she has already been tried for and acquitted of the same offense with the same facts . For this plea to be successful, there must have been a trial by a competent court where there was either a conviction or acquittal and not a mere discharge

NOTE: In some countries like the USA, Mexico, Canada, Israel, India etc. there is a “Double jeopardy clause”.

ALIBI

A claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place. If an accused puts on alibi as a plea to a criminal charge, the accused is simply saying that whoever committed the offence is still out there.