ABSTRACT
A plea of guilty by the accused must be made freely. The accused must only be advised to plead guilty if he has committed the crime in question. In R v Turner (1970), Lord Parker CJ set out guidelines on plea bargaining. He stated that:
(1) it may sometimes be the duty of counsel to give strong advice to the accused that a plea of guilty with remorse is a mitigating factor which might enable the court to give a lesser sentence (displays of remorse following a not guilty plea tend to be unconvincing);
(2) the accused must ultimately make up his or her own mind as to how to plead;
(3) there should be open access to the trial judge and counsel for both sides should attend each meeting, preferably in open court; and
(4) the judge should never indicate the sentence which he is minded to impose, nor should he ever indicate that on a plea of guilty he would impose one sentence, but that on a conviction following a plea of not guilty he would impose a severer sentence.
