And if so, would they get more prison time / a larger fine?
In the US and many other Western nations, the law operates on the presumption that the accused is innocent until proven guilty¹. To enter a plea as a defendant is to formally acknowledge charges filed in a court of law. A guilty plea simply indicates the defendant will not contest the charges, and the trial proceeds more or less directly to final adjudication and sentencing. Sometimes this is done as part of a plea deal where the prosecution and defense agree to a set of lesser charges, with reduced reduced jail times and/or larger fines. The defendant may noy even have committed any of the offences charged, but agrees to the to lesser charges to avoid time, expense or reputational harm of a lengthy trial.
A plea of not guilty simply indicates the defendant intends to challenge some or all of the charges, and is asserting their right to the presumption of innocence while the defense team reviews prosecutor’s inculpatory evidence, prepares counterarguments and gathers exculpatory evidence.
The accused is presumed to be innocent unless and until a guilty verdict is reached on the basis of the evidence presented at trial. Additional charges of perjury would only apply where evidence is entered in bad faith, or if the defendant were to make false statements under oath.
- In theory. In practice, we all know people get railroaded for any number of reasons, but that’s beside the point.
