Report No. 142

3.12. The Supreme Court held that guilty pleas are valid if they are voluntary and intelligent.-

There must be material to show that the guilty plea is voluntary, deliberate and informed; the record must affirmatively disclose that a defendant who pleads guilty enters his plea understandingly and voluntarily. It was observed by the Supreme Court that a guilty plea is more than an admission of past conduct; it is the defendant's consent that judgment of conviction may be entered without a trial a waiver of this right to trial before a judge.

The Supreme Court further observed:

"Pleas of guilty-made by some people because their reach of a Statute law is alone sufficient reason for surrendering themselves and accepting punishment, by others because apprehension and charge, both threatening acts by the Government, far them into admitting their guilt, and by still others because the post indictment accumulations of evidence may convince the defendant and his counsel that a trial is not worth the agony and expense to the defendant and his family-are all valid, and are not improperly compelled, in spice of the State's responsibility for some of the factors motivating the pleas." (p. 751, Para. 10).

[Emphasis added]