Regarding the Conformity and the Penalty Suspension in Spanish Criminal Law

After the agreement of Conformity has been negotiated between the defense and the public prosecutor's office, the accused, assisted by his lawyer, and once in the courtroom, must tell the judge that he agrees with the indictment from the public prosecutor's office and with the agreement of compliance (Conformity) achieved.

The act will begin with the judge reading the indictment, especially in those complex cases, such as the defendant not understanding the language and requiring an interpreter, where the judge performs a strict compliance check, then giving the floor to the public prosecutor for previous questions.

After the modification of the indictment by the prosecution as a preliminary question, the judge will ask the defense attorney if he agrees with the modified indictment and, finally, will ask the accused if he agrees with the facts contained in the indictment and with the requested penalty. It may also happen that the judge or court asks the defendant first about the compliance, before his lawyer.

The judge will dictate orally, and according to the agreement reached, a condemnatory sentence, being able to declare its finality if the parties previously state that they are not going to appeal it. In this case, the judge will issue a sentence in voce (out loud in the very act) sentencing the defendant for the facts contained in the indictment to the requested sentence, and to which the defendant and the defense have agreed. The sentence in writing would be notified through the attorney in the following days.

It may happen that the firmness of it is not declared, which is not usual in conformities and, therefore, that at that time the judge does not rule on the suspension of the sentence that is requested by the defense . The law states that the judge will decide on the suspension of the execution whenever this is possible and, therefore, in this case, he may already agree to the suspension of the custodial sentence imposed.

When it is interested by the defense for the judge to rule on the suspension in sentence, the prosecutor will be requested in the interview to remain prior to the act of hearing for that purpose so that, also in the hearing of the trial, it is recorded that the prosecutor does not opposes the suspension of the sentence formally requested by the defense.