What is a plea bargain? How do I request one?
In most courts, in order to save time and costs, the prosecution may offer a plea bargain prior to trial. Or you can initiate the plea bargaining process by asking the prosecutor. In a plea bargain, you and the prosecution negotiate a reduced charge. In exchange to your guilty plea to the lesser charge, both parties can avoid going through the long process of a trial and an unpredictable outcome. If you want to plea bargain with the prosecution, in jurisdictions with pre-trial hearings, this is the time to do it. If pre-trial hearings are not available, you may do it after the court opens for admission and before the judge enters the court room. Sometimes, if your case is near the bottom of the docket, you may be able to strike a last-minute deal during a recess. In this case, I believe the prosecution is actually more inclined to give you a good deal should the alotted court time runs out and they risk pushing your case further into the future and being thrown out due to unreasonable
