Editing Plea (section)

===Special pleas===
Other special pleas used in criminal cases include the plea of mental incompetence, challenging the jurisdiction of the court over the defendant's person, the plea in bar, attacking the jurisdiction of the court over the crime charged, and the plea in abatement, which is used to address procedural errors in bringing the charges against the defendant, not apparent on the "face" of the indictment or other charging instrument. Special pleas in federal criminal cases have been abolished, and defenses formerly raised by special pleas are now raised by motion to dismiss.

A conditional plea is one where the defendant pleads guilty to the offense but expressly reserves the right to appeal certain aspects of the charges (for example, that the evidence was illegally obtained).

In ''[[United States v. Binion]]'', malingering or feigning illness during a competency evaluation was held to be [[obstruction of justice]] and led to an enhanced sentence. Although the defendant had pleaded guilty, he was not awarded a reduction in sentence because the feigned illness was considered to mean that he was not [[acceptance of responsibility|accepting responsibility]] for his illegal behavior.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://jaapl.org/content/34/1/126.full
|title=Behavior of the Defendant in a Competency-to-Stand-Trial Evaluation Becomes an Issue in Sentencing
|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
|date=January 2006
|volume=34
|issue=1
|pages=126–128
|publisher=Journal of the American Psychiatric Association
|access-date=2007-10-10
|last1=Darani
|first1=Shaheen
}}
</ref>