How do plea bargains work in California?

The prosecution and defense negotiate a disposition — reduced charges, a specified sentence, or both — which the court must approve. Penal Code section 1192.5 governs conditional pleas: if the court later withdraws its approval, the defendant may withdraw the plea, and a withdrawn plea cannot be used against the defendant afterward.

The large majority of California criminal cases end in negotiated pleas, and the framework is statutory. Under Penal Code section 1192.5, a plea may be conditioned on specified charges or sentence, the court must consent, and a defendant may withdraw the plea if the court later steps away from the bargain — with the withdrawn plea inadmissible afterward. Before accepting any plea, the court must find a factual basis and advise the defendant of the rights being waived and the direct consequences, including the immigration advisement Penal Code section 1016.5 requires; for non-citizens, the immigration effect of the specific code section pleaded to can outweigh the sentence itself. Negotiation takes two broad forms — charge bargaining (a wobbler reduced under section 17(b), a lesser offense substituted) and sentence bargaining — and section 1192.7 restricts bargaining in serious-felony cases except in defined circumstances. The decision belongs to the defendant alone, and evaluating an offer means pricing the collateral consequences: licensing, immigration, priors, and record-clearance eligibility down the road.

Authority: Cal. Penal Code § 1192.5