You should only ever plead guilty if you have been apprised fully of what your options are. Do not simply plead guilty because you believe that you are responsible for what happened. You may feel guilt, believe you are responsible, and yet be legally innocent. Moreover, the prosecution may not be able to prove their case against you and it may be worth it to go to trial. At the end of the day, the choice to plead guilty is never as simple as it may at first seem.
At Muenz Criminal Law – Calgary Criminal Defence Lawyers, we ensure that our clients always make their choice to plead guilty or not guilty being informed of the consequences and the other options that are available. We also always ensure that we have first reached out to the Crown prosecution to determine what their position is on sentencing, should you plead guilty. We will also make sure to negotiate with the Crown prosecutor what the sentence ought to be if you voluntarily take responsibility.
In short, you should only ever consider pleading guilty if you have had a lawyer explain all of your options to you and a lawyer has had the chance to negotiate the best plea deal available to you.