What Is an SOC Agreement in a Criminal Case
? First of all it stands for stipulated order of continuance. To put it simply this is essentially it is a contract a defendant would enter into with the Prosecuting Attorney. Typically the terms of the contract would include some sort of sentence. At the end of the terms of the contract the criminal case would get reduced or dismissed, depending on the negotiated terms of this agreement. But lets take a deeper look at how the stipulated order of continuance would work and what typically are the terms it contains.
As stated above this is a contract between the Prosecutor and the Defendant. One of the most important and key terms of the contract is what will happen to the charge at the end of the agreement. Whether it gets dismissed or whether it gets reduced to a lesser offense. That needs to be negotiated and is usually spelled out in the agreement.
Another important aspect of the agreement that is often overlooked is what will happen if the defendant doesn't comply with the terms of the agreement. Lets say one of the terms of the agreement is to do 20 community service hours. Well what happens if the defendant doesn't do that. Well the heart of the stipulated order of continuance is that the defendant has to stipulate that the facts in the police report are true and sufficient to convict them for the underlying offense. The Judge will then attach the police report to the SOC agreement. So if the defendant doesn't do what he is supposed to do or fails to live up to their end of the bargain. A Judge will simply read the police report, and since the defendant has already stipulated to the facts in the police report, the Judge will just read it to determine the guilt of the defendant. The defendant will not be able to contest any of the evidence.
So is the SOC agreement a good deal? Absolutely in my opinion it is a good deal. It allows the defendant to control their destiny. Meaning they can choose to live up to their end of the bargain and follow whatever terms get negotiated. Typically these are staying out of trouble, doing community service hours, alcohol and or drug treatment. Things like that. If they do those things then the charge will be guaranteed to get dismissed or reduced. Remember if you go to trial you never know what will happen, and the SOC agreement has a guaranteed outcome.
Matthew Leyba is a Criminal Defense DUI Lawyer in Washington State. He represents those accused of DUI and other serious traffic offenses in his Seattle DUI Defense law practice.
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