A guilty plea procedure involves, inter alia, that the defendant fully admit the acts held against him/her in the bill of indictment.
Under Article 374(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, when the criminal action does not concern an offence punishable by life imprisonment, the chairman informs the defendant that the latter may apply for his/her trial to be conducted based only on the evidence produced in the criminal prosecution stage and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties and the aggrieved party, if the defendant fully admits all the acts held against him/her (emphasis added).
Full admission of the acts outlined in the bill of indictment does not mean that the defendant has the obligation to accept the related charges
Unlike a plea bargain agreement concluded during the criminal prosecution stage, where the defendant admits both his/her acts and the charges, the guilty plea procedure requires the defendant to fully admit the acts held against him/her in the bill of indictment, but he/she does not have to accept the related charges.
This also results from Article 377(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, under which the prosecutor and the parties (even the defendant) may ask the court to change the charges in the bill of indictment after the motion for a guilty plea procedure has been granted.
Charges may be changed only if the state of facts changes
Once the case is tried by guilty plea procedure, the defendant may ask the court to change the charges only if the state of facts in the bill of indictment changes.
Changing the charges for the acts admitted by the defendant cannot lead to a change in the degree of guilt, since by the guilty plea procedure, when the defendant admitted the act, he/she also admitted his/her guilt. Therefore, the degree of guilt cannot be excluded from the elements admitted by the defendant.
If, in challenging the charges by reference to the degree of guilt, the defendant aims to change, even in part, the state of facts outlined in the bill of indictment, the motion for guilty plea procedure will be dismissed. Therefore, the guilty plea procedure will not be applicable when the defendant admits the actual act, but not the degree of guilt held by the criminal investigation bodies in the bill of indictment.
However, if the defendant’s motion for the guilty plea procedure was dismissed on the grounds that (i) the evidence produced in the criminal prosecution stage is not sufficient and a general-law court investigation is required, or (ii) the defendant did not fully admit the acts held against him/her when he/she moved for the guilty plea procedure, he/she may, however, get a more lenient sentence.
This will only be the case if the court, further to a general-law court investigation, upholds a state of facts identical to that admitted by the defendant.
Granting a more lenient sentence
If the trial was conducted in accordance with the guilty plea procedure, when the defendant is convicted or when the enforcement of his/her punishment is postponed, legal punishment thresholds for imprisonment will be lowered by one third, and for criminal fines by one quarter.
Alexandru GOGONEAȚĂ ([email protected]),
Attorney specialising in Criminal Law with Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații (www.tuca.ro)