We often read in the news that a certain criminal defendant has pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against him.
In realty, a “not guilty” plea enters automatically when the defendant is arraigned.
According to Rule 7(b) of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure, at arraignment
[t]he court shall read the charges to the defendant in open court [and] enter the defendant’s plea to the charges.
The defendant’s plea, entered by the court, is always “not guilty.”
The next court event will be the defendant’s pretrial hearing. At that hearing or any other hearing that takes place prior to trial, the defendant may change his plea.
In most cases, the defendant will plead guilty or admit to “facts sufficient for a finding of guilty” in order to secure a more lenient sentence. (See my post Plea Options for Criminal Defendants in Massachusetts District Court.)
If the court rejects the defendant’s plea offer, a plea of “not guilty” will be re-entered for the defendant (See Mass.R.Crim.P. Rule 12(a)[1]) and the case will proceed to trial.