Unless you're considerably past your wonder years or are a devotee of 1970s news milestones, you probably don't remember the name Spiro T. Agnew. Yet, if not for a certain court pleading back in the day, Mr. Agnew could well have been president of the United States.
Mr. Agnew was vice president under Richard Nixon and he would have succeeded to the presidency when Mr. Nixon resigned under the weight of the Watergate scandal. But before that could happen, Mr. Agnew himself would resign after he pleaded nolo contendere to charges of tax fraud.
That plea, which translates as "no contest," essentially "has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose," says the online Electronic Law Library. By pleading nolo contendere, the defendant is not admitting anything, so the plea cannot be used in another trial to show admission of guilt.
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