Nolo contendere

In law, a plea of "nolo contendere" means that the defendant does not admit the charge, but does not dispute it either. This is also called a plea of no contest or, more informally, a "nolo" plea. "Nolo contendere" is Latin and literally means "I do not wish to argue". In putting in such a plea, a defendant agrees that the court may find him guilty criminally without ever admitting to the act(s) s/he is charged with.

A defendant could do this for a variety of reasons:

• The issue may e.g. be a complex criminal one and a defendant may thus not be certain whether in doing what he or she did, they have in fact committed the crime they are charged with. The defendant thus fully leaves it for the court to determine whether he or she has committed the crime in question and signals that s/he may accept the decision of the court for him/herself. (This of course requires the defendant to have and maintain full faith in the court.)
• A no contest plea is often entered by a criminal defendant facing a realistic prospect of conviction, who does not wish to undergo a trial, and yet is not willing to admit to the offense charged.
• Specifically, the defendant may wish to avoid admitting to a tort or any other type of wrongdoing alleged in the indictment or information against him/her with a view to possible later civil action.
• Another advantage can be in saving on legal costs. This typically is a consideration when those costs exceed any possible penalties that may be levied on a guilty party.

Recently a nolo plea seems to have moved increasingly into the direction of a guilty plea, almost barring its use for the first reason given above: Both in court room practice and especially in terms of outside media coverage, the possibility of pleading no contest for such (quite upstanding) reasons apparently is rarely ever considered in most places and cases.

Generally, a defendant pleading nolo contendere, will be found guilty of the offense by the court, as there rarely is (or can be, even) an effective defence without contesting the charge at hand. Furthermore, a nolo plea generally has the same effect as a plea or verdict of guilty for purposes of sentencing, and, depending upon the jurisdiction, may have the same effect as a conviction for the purposes of civil disabilities (such as loss of a driver's license or the right to own a firearm) or use as an aggravating factor if the defendant is later convicted of another offense.

The defendant will not, however, be made to allocute to the charges. Also, this plea (unlike a guilty plea) may not be used against him/her to establish negligence per se, malice, or even that s/he actually did the acts which resulted in the conviction, in later civil proceedings related to the same set of facts as the criminal prosecution. It is not an admission of guilt, and provides one major advantage to defendants: It may not be used later as the basis for civil proceedings seeking monetary or other damages against the defendant, as can a guilty plea.

In some jurisdictions, such as the U.S. state of Texas, the right to appeal the results of a plea bargain taken from a plea of nolo contendere is highly restricted. In Texas, a defendant who has entered a plea of nolo contendere may only appeal the judgment of the court if the appeal is based on written pretrial motions ruled upon by the court or with the trial judge's permission.