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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PLEA BARGAIN IN NIGERIA

The commission of crime activates the Nigerian criminal justice system and sets in motion the arrest of offender, investigation of crime and subsequent prosecution. In this era of technology with the attendant consequence of increased cybercrime, the law has fashioned a veritable tool for remorseful defendants to obtain certain concessions, within the ambit of our criminal jurisprudence. This instrumentality of the law is called Plea bargain.

WHAT IS PLEA BARGAIN?

This is an agreement between the prosecutor and a defendant who pleads guilty to a lesser charge or to one of multiple charges in exchange for a more lenient sentence or a dismissal of the other charges. In other words, it is an agreement in a criminal trial in which a prosecutor and a defendant arrange to settle the case against the defendant on terms accepted by the prosecutor, which terms are premised in the interest of justice, public interest, and public policy.

TYPES OF PLEA BARGAIN AGREEMENT

Theoretically speaking, there are basically three types of plea bargain agreements namely:

1. CHARGE PLEA BRAGAIN: it is a situation where the prosecutor agrees with the defendant to press a lesser charge than the one originally filed against the defendant.

2. COUNT PLEA BARGAIN: this arises where the accused person agrees to plead to one or fewer number of charge counts as filed by the prosecution in exchange for a concession.

3. SENTENCE PLEA BARGAIN: this has to do with pleading guilty to a charge for an exchange of a promised lenient sentencing. Here, the prosecutor need not reduce the charges or count charge filed against the defendant, rather, the prosecution would, based on the agreement of parties, recommend a lighter sentencing of the defendant.

The consent of the prosecutor and the defendant or his representative must be expressly obtained before a plea bargain agreement can be reached. It is important to note that there is no strict dichotomy between these types of plea bargain. This is because whichever approach/type is opted for, the end result is that the defendant is likely to get a lighter sentence for the offence he has committed in an exchange for the plea of guilty.

PARTIES TO A PLEA BARGAIN AGREEMENT

1. The prosecutor

2. The defendant

3. The court

4. The victim against whom the crime was committed (although not often the case)

PLEA BARGAIN UNDER THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The doctrine was imported from the American criminal justice system into our corpus juris.

The regulatory frameworks that initially introduced this concept in Nigeria are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment, etc) Act and the subsequent Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State. Section 14(2) of the EFCC Act provides as follows: subject to the provisions of section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (which relates to the power of the Attorney-General to institute, continue, takeover or discontinue any criminal proceedings against any person in any court of law), the Commission may compound any offence punishable under this Act by accepting such sums of money as it thinks fit, exceeding the amount to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of that offence.

The expansive and elaborative provision of section 76 of the ACJL provides that Notwithstanding anything in this Law or any other law, the Attorney-General of the State shall have power to consider and accept a plea bargain from a person charged with any offence where the Attorney- General is of the view that the acceptance of such plea bargain is in the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process.

The above statutory provisions institutionalized the practice of plea bargain in Nigeria and formed the basis of the similar provision in Administration of Criminal Justice Act. The provision allows the defendant to plead guilty to lesser offences than the offences charged and guarantees speedy dispensation of justice.

ADVANTAGES OF PLEA BARGAIN

1. It serves as one of the tools used in the expedient disposition of criminal trials

2. It serves as a case management strategy

3. One of the usefulness of plea bargain is that it not only creates an avenue for punitive justice, in some instances it also incorporates the concept of restorative justice by placing the victim back to the position they would have been.

4. Plea bargain agreements may give you exponentially less severe penalties than a conviction at trial.

5. It is cost efficient

WHEN TO ENTER A PLEA BARGAIN

In plea bargain, during the course of negotiation, both parties must make compromises aimed at reaching an achievable agreement. A defendants’ knowledge of his chances of victory at trial is often the key to his decision to enter a plea bargain. It is always advisable to opt for an experienced criminal defense attorney who can help such defendant to make this critical but strategic decision. It is always safer to know what a defendant is bargaining for.

In practice, after the plea agreement has been reached by the prosecutor and Defendant, the Prosecuting officer will obtain the requisite internal approval and file a charge or count in a court of competent jurisdiction. The next phase involves the judiciary to accept the plea bargain agreement. After the matter is charged to court, the Defendant will be required to plead guilty to the counts or charges as agreed in the plea bargain arrangement. Thereafter, the prosecutor and the Defendant’s counsel will inform the court of the plea bargain arrangement pursuant to which the court will convict the defendant bearing in mind the circumstances of the plea bargain arrangement already entered by the parties.

Though plea bargain, as in all legal tools, is not without some concerns, it is believed that utilizing the services of an experienced crisis manager and criminal defence attorney would dispel these fears and ensure that the strategy is deployed in deserving circumstances.

Plea bargain has been successfully employed in high profile criminal cases as well as other criminal cases by legal experts in criminal defence litigation.

CONCLUSION

It is time for stakeholders in the Administration of criminal justice system to fully embrace this invaluable legal tool with its overwhelming advantages to the administration and dispensation of justice. It is without doubt that securing the services of an experienced criminal defense lawyer to mitigate the adverse effect of a defendant’s punishment in deserving circumstance, remains the right approach. The extent of the leniency of a defendant’s punishment lies solely in the negotiation skill and capacity of a sound criminal defense attorney and seasoned crisis manager.