Why would the innocent person enter into a plea deal instead of going to a trial? There are a lot of innocent people who enter into plea deals. Usually, the plea deal is something better than they would get if they went into trial and lost because they can't afford the length of a trial. They might be in jail waiting for trial and the plea deal gets them out on probation. And so, they're better off just saying, "I'm going to plead to something that I didn't do so I can get out on probation and not wait a year or two down the road for this jury trial." Sometimes innocent people plead guilty when they're not really guilty.