Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Re: plea bargain and appeals

Sure, but you give up almost all of your grounds for appeal when you plead guilty of no contest. Most appeals are appeals from mistakes that occur during the trial so, if there is no trial, there may be nothing to appeal.

It is possible to plead no contest and reserve a specific issue on appeal. For instance, a person may lose a motion to suppress, then plead no contest so that they can appeal the loss on the motion to suppress. No one should do this without a lawyer, though.