# Throwing Yourself 'On the Mercy of the Court'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611 "2021-07-03T17:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/1 "2021-07-03T17:46:08Z")
I last heard of this a long time ago when I was still a kid, maybe in the late 1970’s or early 80’s. (Which brings me to my next question: _is it still practiced today?_) It’s hopeless for a defendant in a criminal trial. He’s done some unforgivable deed. And a not guilty plea just wouldn’t work (use your imagination). So he says, in a last fit of desperation ‘I throw myself on the mercy of the court!’ And that, I seem to recall, was supposed to make the court go easy on him (or her, for that matter). It has been a long time, so I don’t remember if it worked. Frankly, I was a little kid. I don’t even know if I heard that part of the story. But I clearly recall it was done at one time. Again, I perhaps don’t get out as much as I could. So maybe it’s still done today. Is it? Would it work? Because it also seems redundant to me anyways. If you plead guilty, you’re already doing that anyway. Or is there something I’m missing here? Is something else involved? Yes, I clearly recall that this happened 🙂 .And as I said, I last heard of it as a child. So sorry, no cite 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/2 "2021-07-03T18:00:54Z")
people don’t (as far as I know) literally use those words, but that concept is behind most guilty pleas. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/3 "2021-07-03T18:11:16Z")
As a judge’s assistant, in all the years I listened to defendants’ sentencing hearings, which would generally be the time for a defendant or his attorney to make a plea for leniency, I never heard either use those specific words. Arguments for leniency, surely. But never, “Your Honor, I throw myself on the mercy of the court!” Judges are required in imposing their choice of sentence to state factors in mitigation (for leniency) and factors in aggravation (for not leniency) on the record, as well as indicate how they, the judge, are balancing them. If factors in mitigation outweigh factors in aggravation, then there may be a lesser sentence. And vice versa. I think it’s more a movie or television drama thing than an actual thing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/4 "2021-07-03T18:45:30Z")
I would assume it means showing remorse in order to mitigate your sentence. I can think of at least one movie in which the defendant was innocent, but their lawyer counseled throwing themselves on the mercy of the court because they had no chance at an acquittal. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/5 "2021-07-03T19:59:10Z")
Not really all that heinous, but the last time I got a traffic ticket, I pled “Guilty with an explanation.” The judge asked what that was, and I replied “I’m a dumbass.” That got a chuckle and a minimal fine. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/6 "2021-07-03T20:49:25Z")
When you say you “clearly recall that this happened,” what do you mean by “happened?” The phrase has no legal meaning in American jurisprudence that I can find. Google Books gives a few examples of the phrase in accounts from the early 19th century. More recent accounts are obviously people who, like you, have heard the phrase and think it means something. The best example of what happens next is found [here](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tales_from_Kentucky_Lawyers/wVzWSRMGXwMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22I+throw+myself+on+the+mercy+of+the+court!%22&pg=PA255&printsec=frontcover). [Page 255 if the link doesn’t take you directly there.] ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/7 "2021-07-04T05:23:15Z")
I think nowadays it is called “Plea Bargain” and it resolves 92% of all criminal convictions. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/8 "2021-07-04T05:47:10Z")
Yeah, I have heard things like that and “Your Honor, I throw myself on the mercy of the court!” but only in traffic court. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/9 "2021-07-04T06:34:17Z")
Occasionally known in the UK as “pleaded the headaches”. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/10 "2021-07-04T14:26:54Z")
I suspect this is similar to the portion of a wedding ceremony that asks for any objections and ends with the words, “…speak now or forever hold your peace”. Perhaps once a thing, but nowadays just something you might see in a movie or television show (and an older one, at that). mmm ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-yourself-on-the-mercy-of-the-court/945611/11 "2021-07-04T15:30:58Z")
Charlie Brown not having done his homework, _Peanuts_ strip, 1965: > ETA: same strip here: [Peanuts by Charles Schulz for March 01, 1965 - GoComics](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1965/03/01)