Go to trial = no plea deal at all = risking harsher sentence OR you know you can prove your innocence
Guilty plea = accepting full responsibility for the crime and accepting the prosecutions deal of (usually) a lesser sentence to skip the trial and go straight to punishment.
Alford plea = same as above but maintaining that you are innocent of the charges but cannot prove that against the prosecutions evidence.
As others have stated, an Alford plea often has to be approved or accepted by the judge or prosecutors so it’s not always an option for everyone.
No it’s more like:
Go to trial = no plea deal at all = risking harsher sentence OR you know you can prove your innocence
Guilty plea = accepting full responsibility for the crime and accepting the prosecutions deal of (usually) a lesser sentence to skip the trial and go straight to punishment.
Alford plea = same as above but maintaining that you are innocent of the charges but cannot prove that against the prosecutions evidence.
As others have stated, an Alford plea often has to be approved or accepted by the judge or prosecutors so it’s not always an option for everyone.