Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

Re: plea bargains

Be cautious and careful as you proceed. As part of the plea dialog, you were put under oath and asked if the facts presented by the prosecutor were accurate. For the Judge to accept your plea, you must have said yes. If you now say that was false, you could be setting yourself up for a perjury charge (lying under oath is itself a crime). Your problem at this point is that you made an admission, under oath, that you were responsible for the crime. The exculpatory evidence is not going to be seen as relevant by the Court to this issue, nor is the lack of an investigator going to be relevant.

Whoever told you that you could withdraw your plea within 90 days is mistaken. You cannot. I would guess your friend got divorced, and was referring to the 90 day nisi period of time during which you can change your mind. I cannot think of any other area of the law where you can change your mind within 90 days.

If the plea dialog between you and the Judge was faulty, that is the Judge failed to properly advise you of all of the rights that must be presented to you, then you might be able to set aside the plea for this reason. I have a case right now in which that is exactly what we have been able to accomplish, and for this person, he has been granted a new "trial" (or an opportunity to enter a different plea, as he elects). Judges get pretty good at their dialog for pleas, and mistakes are not that common. You need to have a copy of the audio tape for the court session in which your plea was heard, and then have an attorney listen to that tape to see if the colloquoy was correct. If it was not, you may have a chance of re-opening the case, and removing your guilty plea.