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plea

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

plea

Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
(plē) pronunciation
n.
  1. An earnest request; an appeal: spoke out in a plea for greater tolerance.
  2. An excuse; a pretext: "necessity,/The Tyrant's plea" (John Milton).
  3. Law.
    1. An allegation offered in pleading a case.
    2. A defendant's answer to the declaration made by the plaintiff in a civil action.
    3. The answer of the accused to a criminal charge or indictment: entered a plea of not guilty.
    4. A special answer depending on or demonstrating one or more reasons why a suit should be delayed, dismissed, or barred in equity law.
    5. An action or suit.

[Middle English plai, lawsuit, from Old French plai, plaid, from Late Latin placitum, decree, from Latin, from neuter past participle of placēre, to please.]


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Roget's Thesaurus:

plea

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noun

  1. An earnest or urgent request: appeal, entreaty, imploration, prayer1, supplication. See ask/answer.
  2. An explanation offered to justify an action or make it better understood: excuse, pretext. See explain/baffle.

Antonyms by Answers.com:

plea

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n

Definition: begging request
Antonyms: answer, reply

n

Definition: excuse, defense
Antonyms: decision, sentence

West's Encyclopedia of American Law:

Plea

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A formal response by the defendant to the affirmative assertions of the plaintiff in a civil case or to the charges of the prosecutor in a criminal case.

Under the old system of common-law pleading, a plea was the defendant's first pleading in a case, the document in which he set out reasons why the plaintiff should not win on the claim made in his or her declaration. Rather than enter a plea, a defendant could file a demurrer, which was a pleading in which the defendant argued that the plaintiff had not made out a legally sufficient case. If the defendant did not demur, he responded to the plaintiff's declaration with a plea.

There were two kinds of pleas, dilatory and peremptory. A dilatory plea did not argue against the merits of the plaintiff's claim but challenged that individual's right to have the court hear the case. It was called dilatory not because it unfairly delayed the trial but simply because it postponed the time when, if ever, the court would reach the merits of the case. A plea in abatement was a dilatory plea.

A peremptory plea, also called a plea in bar, did reach the merits of the case. It set out certain facts that the defendant claimed would bar the granting of relief to the plaintiff.

The plea could be a traverse, a full denial of the plaintiff's version of the facts. In that situation, the issue was defined, and the case went to trial for a determination in favor of one party or the other.

The plea could be a confession and avoidance, by which the defendant conceded the truth of the plaintiff's allegations but asserted new facts by which she sought to avoid the legal effect of the plaintiff's claim. For example, the defendant could admit that she had made a bargain as claimed by the plaintiff and then add that she was a minor at the time that she entered into the agreement and therefore could not be bound by it. At that point, no issue would yet have been disputed by both parties, and the plaintiff would have to respond to the plea. The plaintiff had the same range of possible responses that the defendant had had when she selected the plea, but the plaintiff's responsive pleading was called a replication. If the plaintiff raised a new question, the defendant had to respond with a rejoinder. After that, the pleading process could bounce back and forth with a surrejoinder, a rebutter, and a surrebutter. Common-law pleading thus became so complex and hypertechnical that it has now been replaced by code pleading and pleading similar to that of the federal civil procedure.

A defendant could also enter a plea in a case in equity. This was a special kind of answer to a bill in equity, that showed one or more reasons why the suit should be dismissed, delayed, or barred entirely. Since the procedures for cases at law and in equity have been merged, the plea in equity has also been abolished.

A criminal defendant has some options in responding to charges made against him. The rules of criminal procedure in the federal courts and many state courts permit a defendant to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere, which means "I do not wish to contest it." If a defendant fails or refuses to enter any plea at all, the court will enter a plea of "not guilty" for that individual, and then the trial may begin.

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For the pygmy backswimmer genus, see Plea (insect).
 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that person pleaded Guilty, Not Guilty, No Contest or Alford plea.

The concept of the plea is one of the major differences between criminal procedure under common law and procedure under the civil law system. Under common law, a plea of guilty by the defendant waives trial of the charged offences and the defendant may be sentenced immediately. This produces a system under American law known as plea bargaining.

In civil law jurisdictions, there is generally no concept of a plea of guilty. A confession by the defendant is treated like any other piece of evidence, and a full confession does not prevent a full trial from occurring or relieve the plaintiff(s) from its duty of presenting a case to the trial court.

A "blind plea" is a guilty plea entered with no plea agreement in place.[1] One defendant accused of illegally protesting nuclear power, when asked to enter his plea, stated, "I plead for the beauty that surrounds us";[2] this type of unorthodox plea is sometimes referred to as a "creative plea," and will usually be interpreted as a plea of not guilty.[3] Likewise, standing mute and refusing to enter any plea at all will usually be interpreted as a not guilty plea; the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, for instance, state, "If a defendant refuses to enter a plea or if a defendant organization fails to appear, the court must enter a plea of not guilty."[4]

Contents

Peremptory pleas

Main article: Peremptory pleas

These are pleas which claim that a case cannot proceed for some reason. They are so called because, rather than being an answer to the question of guilt or innocence, they are a claim that the matter of guilt or innocence should not be considered.

They are :

  • autrefois convict - where the defendant has already been convicted of the charge (and thus cannot be tried again)
  • autrefois acquit - where he has previously acquitted of the same charge (and hence cannot be tried again, under the doctrine of double jeopardy),
  • plea of pardon - where he has been pardoned for the offence.
  • special liability to repair a road or bridge - in English law, where a defendant local authority alleges that a private landowner was responsible for repairing a road or bridge

United States

"Voluntary and intelligent"

A defendant who enters a plea of guilty must do so, in the phraseology of a 1938 Supreme Court case, Johnson v. Zerbst, "knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently". The burden is on the prosecution to prove that all waivers of the defendant's rights complied with due process standards. Accordingly, in cases of all but the most minor offences, the court or the prosecution (depending upon local custom and the presiding judge's preference) will engage in a plea colloquy wherein they ask the defendant a series of rote questions about the defendant's knowledge of his rights and the voluntariness of the plea. Typically the hearing on the guilty plea is transcribed by a court reporter and the transcript is made a part of the permanent record of the case in order to preserve the conviction's validity from being challenged at some future time. "Voluntary" has been described as "an elusive term which has come to mean not induced by 'improper' inducements, such as bribing or physical violence, but not including the inducements normally associated with charge and sentence bargaining (except for inducements involving 'overcharging' by prosecutors)." "Intelligent" has been described as "also an elusive term, meaning that the defendant knows his rights, the nature of the charge to which he is pleading, and the consequences of his plea."[5]

Virtually all jurisdictions hold that defense counsel need not discuss with defendants the collateral consequences of pleading guilty, such as consecutive sentencing or even treatment as an aggravating circumstance in an ongoing capital prosecution.[6] However, the Supreme Court recognized an important exception in Padilla v. Kentucky (2010), in which the Court held that defense counsel is obligated to inform defendants of the potential immigration consequences of a guilty plea. Thus a defendant who is not advised of immigration consequences may have an ineffective assistance of counsel argument.

In the U.S. federal system, the court must also satisfy itself that there is a factual basis for the guilty plea.[7] However, this safeguard may not be very effective, because the parties, having reached a plea agreement, may be reluctant to reveal any information that could disturb the agreement. When a plea agreement has been made, the judge's factual basis inquiry is usually perfunctory, and the standard for finding that the plea is factually based is very low.[8]

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 defences formerly raised by special plea are now raised by motion to dismiss.

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 accepting responsibility for his illegal behavior.[9]

English law

In the English system, a plea is regarded as voluntary if the defendant, properly advised as to the possible alternatives by his counsel, has the freedom in his own mind to choose the plea he will make.[10]

Until 1772, if a defendant refused to plead guilty or not guilty, his trial was delayed from taking place, and he was tortured until he either died or entered a plea. This was changed to allow the judge to enter a plea of not guilty if the defendant refused to plead.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Margareth Etienne (Summer, 2005), The Ethics of Cause Lawyering: An Empirical Examination of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Cause Lawyers, Vol. 95, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), pp. 1195–1260 
  2. ^ Hurst, John (August 10), A-plant protestors being freed, Los Angeles Times 
  3. ^ National Lawyers Guild, LA Chapter, Questions and Answers about Civil Disobedience and the Legal Process, http://www.nlg-la.org/index_files/cd_questions.pdf 
  4. ^ Rule 11, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/Rule11.htm 
  5. ^ McDonald, William F. (1986-1987), Judicial Supervision of the Guilty Plea Process: A Study of Six Jurisdictions, 70, Judicature, pp. 203 
  6. ^ Chin, Gabriel J.; Holmes, Richard W. Jr. (2001-2002), Effective Assistance of Counsel and the Consequences of Guilty Pleas, 87, Cornell L. Rev., pp. 697, http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/clqv87&section=33 
  7. ^ http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/Rule11.htm
  8. ^ Jenia Iontcheva Turner (Winter, 2006), Judicial Participation in Plea Negotiations: A Comparative View, 54, The American Journal of Comparative Law, pp. 199–267 
  9. ^ "Behavior of the Defendant in a Competency-to-Stand-Trial Evaluation Becomes an Issue in Sentencing". Journal of the American Psychiatric Association. http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/34/1/126. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  10. ^ A. Davis (1971), Sentences for Sale, http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=30298 
  11. ^ http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/langbein.htm
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Translations:

Plea

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - undskyldning, påskud, bøn, påstand, erklæring

idioms:

  • plea bargain    studehandel

Nederlands (Dutch)
verklaring van een verdachte in een proces, excuus, smeekbede, pleidooi

Français (French)
n. - appel, demande, (Jur) plaidoyer, excuse, sous prétexte que

idioms:

  • plea bargain    (Jur) arrangement entre la défense et l'accusation visant à réduire les charges si l'accusé plaide coupable pour un délit moins grave

Deutsch (German)
n. - Einrede, Begründung, Entschuldigung

idioms:

  • plea bargain    Abkommen, gegen Vergünstigungen ein (Teil)geständnis abzulegen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - έκκληση, πρόφαση, ισχυρισμός, (νομ.) αγωγή, ένσταση

idioms:

  • plea bargain    παραδοχή ενοχής αποβλέπουσα σε μειωμένη ποινή

Italiano (Italian)
supplica, appello, arringa

idioms:

  • plea bargain    patteggiamento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - súplica (f), alegação (f)

idioms:

  • plea bargain    declarar-se culpado de um crime menor para escapar julgamento por crime mais sério

Русский (Russian)
заявление в суде, предлог

idioms:

  • plea bargain    согласие ответчика признать себя виновным

Español (Spanish)
n. - súplica, ruego, petición, pretexto, disculpa, alegato

idioms:

  • plea bargain    sentencia de conformidad, sentencia acordada

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - försvar, vädjan, åberopande, inlaga, svar

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
恳求, 辩解, 请求

idioms:

  • plea bargain    认罪辩诉协议

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 懇求, 辯解, 請求

idioms:

  • plea bargain    認罪辯訴協議

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 탄원, 해명

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 嘆願, 弁解, 抗弁

idioms:

  • plea bargain    有罪答弁取引
  • plea of tender    和解請願

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حجه, عذر, تعلل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בקשה, הפצרה, טענה, תירוץ, הצהרה, כתב-הגנה‬

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms by Answers.com. © 1999-present by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
$copyright.smallImage.alttext West's Encyclopedia of American Law. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
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Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Plea.  Read more
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