Contrary to recent rumors in the press Phillip Garrido plead not guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Duggard, the woman who spent 18 years in capacity after being kidnapped at age 11 in front of her South Lake Tahoe house while she was on her way to school.

The plea which was delayed to allow psychiatric testing of Garrido to determine his competency to stand trial opens up the door to motions challenging the racial and geographic distribution of members of the grand jury according to his attorney Deputy Public Defender Susan Gellman,.

Despite the rumors of a plea Garrido had little to gain from a plea. According to the rumors he was going to get life in prison. If he goes to trial and loses he gets life in prison. Normally in a plea bargain a defendant gets a decreased sentence in exchange for a plea which makes life easier for the district attorney and generally prevents an appeal. According to the rumors, if Garrido took life in prison the only compensation is that his wife, who is also charged in the indictment, would not get life in prison. She would still get a lengthy sentence but if she lived long enough she would get out.

This is not what is generally considered a great deal. And therefore his lawyer and presumably Garrido felt it worth while to enter a not guilty plea and at attach the indictment.

However attacking the indictment is difficult and at most some time will be bought. If a court agrees with him that the grand jury is improperly composed probable all that will happen is that a new grand jury will be called upon to reindict the Garridos.

Attacking the indictment and making other possible motions might increase the Garrido’s leverage and allow them to attempt to get a better plea bargain. They are being tried in El Dorado County. Its a small county and unless the state supplements its prosecution budget the district attorney may try to get another plea bargain in order to protect the office’s budget from the tremendous drain on the budget that will be incurred by trial and appeals..the