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Before the plea: what to check
survivingthefeds.com/tools/plea-agreement-checklist · Not complete yet · Free to copy and mail inside

Tool · Fed. R. Crim. P. 11

Before the plea: what to check

A printable checklist to go through the plea offer with the lawyer, line by line.

Print this. Copy it. Mail it to someone inside. That’s what it’s for. Just don’t sell it.

How to mail it inside, and what the mailroom rejects

The lawyer comes to you and says the government made an offer. Before anyone signs, you need to understand every line of it, because the prosecutor wrote it and a rejected offer may never come back. Go through the written agreement with this review, one section at a time, and answer from the paper itself. At the end you get a printed review with the questions to put to the lawyer.

1The offer itself

Is the offer in writing?

The book’s words for this, to the lawyer:

Surviving Pretrial, page 364I am interested assuming what you are telling me is accurate. I will need to see it in writing before I can confirm whether I will accept however.

Have you read every line, and written down every word you don’t understand?
Are you being rushed to decide?

2What kind of deal it is

Which does the agreement say? (Look for “Rule 11(c)(1)”.)

3What you get

The statute, the most the law allows, and any mandatory minimum. The agreement lists them near the start.
What does the government give in return? Tick everything the paper promises.
Does it require cooperating against anyone?
Does it say the government alone decides whether to file the motion for a lower sentence (“sole discretion”)?

4What you give up

Waivers are usually near the end. Read the last pages twice.

Does it waive the right to appeal?
Does it keep the right to appeal the presentence report, the guideline calculation, and anything that happens after the plea?
Does it waive “collateral attack”, a 2255, or a 2241?
Does it keep claims that the lawyer was ineffective, prosecutorial misconduct, and future changes in Supreme Court law?
Does it waive Rule 410 (a “410 waiver”)?
Does it limit compassionate release, under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)?
Does it waive Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act requests?
Is the person pleading a U.S. citizen?

5The money and the time

Restitution (paying back a loss)
Pleading guilty to more than one count?
Does it say how the sentences run?

6What you face without the deal

Work out both with the guideline range tool, which shows a plea and a trial side by side.

Have you seen what judges actually give for this kind of case?

The sentencing statistics show 2025, by type of crime.

7The lawyer

Has the lawyer gone through every paragraph with you?
Has the lawyer shown you, step by step, how the guideline numbers were reached?
Words you don’t understand, numbers that don’t add up, promises that aren’t on the paper.
The review below fills in as you answer.
Prints on its own, with its sources.

My plea review

Give this only to the lawyer

It holds details of the case. Don’t leave it where other people can read it, and don’t talk about it on jail phones.

Offer in writing
Not answered
Kind of deal
Not answered
Counts charged
Not answered
Counts pleading to
Not answered
Each count, the law’s most and least
Not answered
What the government gives
Nothing marked
Cooperation
Not answered
Appeal waiver
Not answered · exceptions: not answered
2255 waiver
Not answered · exceptions: not answered
410 waiver
Not answered
Compassionate release limited
Not answered
FOIA or Privacy Act waiver
Not answered
U.S. citizen
Not answered
Restitution
Not answered
Forfeiture
None written
Fine
None written
How the sentences run
Not answered or one count
Range with the plea
Not answered
Range after a trial
Not answered
Lawyer went through every paragraph
Not answered
Other questions
None written

Questions for the lawyer (0)

Nothing flagged yet. Answer the questions above, then go through every paragraph with the lawyer anyway.

This review lists questions, not answers. Pleading guilty or going to trial is the defendant’s decision alone. Educational information from a paralegal, not legal advice.

Print this. Copy it. Mail it to someone inside. That’s what it’s for. Just don’t sell it.

1 How this works

A plea agreement is a contract, and the prosecutor wrote it. You give up a trial, and you should get something real in return.4 This review follows the order of the Plea Bargaining chapter in Surviving Pretrial: get the offer in writing, work out what kind of deal it is, list what you get, find everything you give up, and compare it with what you face without the deal.

The three kinds of deal. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 allows three.5 The government can drop charges or agree not to bring new ones. It can recommend a sentence or a guideline finding, which does not bind the judge, and if the judge doesn’t follow it, the plea stays. Or both sides can agree on a sentence or a range, which binds the judge once the judge accepts the deal; if the judge rejects it, the defendant gets the chance to take the plea back.6

Taking a plea back. Before the judge accepts a guilty plea, it can be withdrawn for any reason or none. After that, only for a “fair and just reason”, or if the judge rejects a binding deal.7 Until the plea is accepted, the choice is still the defendant’s alone.

What the judge must say. Before accepting the plea, the judge has to tell the defendant the maximum and any mandatory minimum, forfeiture, restitution, the guideline calculation, the terms of any appeal or 2255 waiver, and, for someone who isn’t a citizen, that the plea can lead to removal.8 If anything in the agreement is a surprise at that hearing, say so then.

The lawyer’s duties. The lawyer has to tell the defendant about every formal plea offer.9 For someone who isn’t a citizen, the lawyer has to say whether the plea carries a risk of deportation.10

The money. Restitution ordered in a federal criminal case can’t be wiped out in bankruptcy.11 Sentences on several counts given at the same time run together unless the judge orders, or a statute requires, that they run one after another.12

2 What this can’t tell you

  • It can’t tell you whether to take the deal. Pleading guilty or going to trial is the defendant’s decision alone. This review only makes sure it is made with every line understood.
  • Use the agreement itself. Answer from the paper, not from what someone said it says. If a clause is missing from this list, ask about it anyway.
  • Every district writes its own. Plea agreements differ by district and by prosecutor, and the words matter more than the headings.
  • Keep it between you and the lawyer. The printed review holds details of the case. A family member’s notes are not protected the way a talk with the lawyer is, and in jail, papers get read by other people.
  • The answers stay on this phone only if you choose. Nothing is sent anywhere, and “Erase everything” clears it.
Guide · Plea Agreements

Federal Plea Deals: What You Are Really Signing

How a federal plea deal works: the three kinds, what the judge can still do, the waivers near the end, and what to check before anyone signs it.

Prints on 12 pagesNot complete yet14-minute read
Guide · Plea Agreements

Proffer Agreements and 5K1: What Cooperating Really Means

What a federal proffer agreement protects and what it gives away, how a 5K1 motion works, who decides, and what to check before anyone sits down to talk.

Prints on 8 pagesNot complete yet9-minute read
Guide · Your Lawyer

Is My Federal Lawyer Any Good? How to Tell, and What to Do

How to tell if a federal defense lawyer is doing the work: the warning signs, the checks to run every month, and what to do when the answers are wrong.

Prints on 9 pagesNot complete yet9-minute read

This is educational information from a paralegal, not legal advice. Every case is different. Talk to a lawyer about yours.

§ Sources

  1. USSG §5K1.1 (a sentence below the range “upon motion of the government”). Back
  2. Fed. R. Evid. 410(a) (a guilty plea later withdrawn, and statements in plea discussions, are not admissible against the defendant). Back
  3. 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Back
  4. Surviving Pretrial, Plea Bargaining, pp. 362–363. Back
  5. Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(A)–(C). Back
  6. Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(3)(B), (c)(5). Back
  7. Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(d). Back
  8. Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(b)(1)(H)–(O), (b)(2). Back
  9. Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134, 145 (2012). Back
  10. Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 369 (2010). Back
  11. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(13). Back
  12. 18 U.S.C. § 3584(a). Back

Surviving the Feds is not a law firm and never provides legal advice. Everything here is for educational purposes only, drawn from lived experience and years of paralegal work in federal criminal cases. Using this site or app does not create an attorney-client relationship. Bilal Khan is not a lawyer. Nothing in the legal world is guaranteed, so talk to a lawyer about your own case.