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What does it mean when a defendant pleads 'no contest'?

In: Law & Legal Issues, Rules of the Road [Edit categories]

Answer:

Nolo contendre

You are not admitting you did anything but are choosing not to defend the charges. It means you are declaring innocence but do not want to exhaust the resources necessary to go to trial (time to gather evidence, missing tons of work to have a trial, money spent on fighting the case, etc). Usually a no contest plea occurs when state prosecutors plea bargain to drop the crime to a lesser offense.

First answer by Wutzyerproblem. Last edit by Skrilled2. Contributor trust: 2 [recommend contributor ]. Question popularity: 25 [recommend question].

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