Pleas, Diversion, and Stay of Adjudication in Minnesota

The basic pleas

• Not guilty. You deny the charge and put the State to its proof. This preserves all your rights and is the default until the case is resolved.
• Guilty. You admit the offense. The court must make sure the plea is accurate (there’s a factual basis), voluntary, and intelligent before accepting it.
• Not guilty by reason of mental illness and other special pleas exist for specific situations.

Alford and Norgaard pleas: pleading guilty without admitting

Minnesota recognizes two special guilty pleas that let a person accept a conviction without fully admitting the facts — useful when the evidence is strong but the defendant cannot or will not admit guilt:

• Alford plea. You maintain your innocence but acknowledge that the State’s evidence is strong enough that a jury would likely convict, and you choose to accept the plea deal rather than risk trial. The court can accept it if there is a strong factual basis in the record.
• Norgaard plea. Used when you cannot remember the events — often because of intoxication, a blackout, or memory loss — but acknowledge the State could likely prove the case. Like an Alford plea, it requires a strong factual basis.

Both result in a conviction and are not a way to avoid one — but they let a defendant resolve a case on negotiated terms without testifying to facts they dispute or cannot recall. Courts scrutinize them carefully.

Resolutions that can avoid a conviction

These are often the most valuable outcomes — they can keep a conviction off your record entirely:

• Diversion. The prosecutor (or a court program) agrees to divert the case out of the normal process. If you complete the program’s conditions — which can include classes, restitution, community service, or staying out of trouble — the charge is dismissed and there is no conviction.
• Continuance for dismissal (CFD). The case is continued for a set period on agreed conditions; if you comply, the charge is dismissed. No guilty plea is entered, and there is no conviction.
• Stay of adjudication. You may enter a guilty plea, but the court does not formally adjudicate (enter) the conviction. Instead it places you on probation; if you successfully complete it, the case is dismissed and no conviction is entered on your record. (This is different from a stay of imposition, where a conviction is entered but the felony can later be deemed a misdemeanor.)

Eligibility for these depends on the offense, your history, and — for diversion and CFD — the prosecutor’s agreement. They are not available in every case, but where they are, they can be far more valuable than any plea, because they avoid a conviction in the first place.

How these decisions get made

Choosing among these options is one of the most consequential decisions in a criminal case, and it depends on the strength of the evidence, the collateral consequences of a conviction (immigration, licensing, employment, firearms), and what the prosecutor will agree to. The same case can end very differently depending on whether it resolves as a straight guilty plea, an Alford/Norgaard plea, a stay of adjudication, or a diversion — which is exactly why the negotiation and the advice behind it matter so much.