Alford plea

plural Alford pleas

1. USlawA plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit guilt but concedes the government has sufficient evidence to convict.

   When offering an Alford plea, a defendant asserts his innocence but admits that sufficient evidence exists to convict him of the offense.

   2009 November, Michael T. Judge, Stephen R. McCullough, “Criminal law and procedure”, in University of Richmond Law Review, page 339, Vol. 44

   3 more examples

   Alford Plea. A plea under which a defendant may choose to plead guilty, not because of an admission to the crime, but because the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to place a charge and to obtain conviction in court. The plea is commonly used in local and state courts in the United States.

   1992, Walter John Raymond, Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms, Brunswick Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 9

   Under the Alford doctrine, a defendant does not admit guilt but admits that the state has sufficient evidence to find him or her guilty, should the case go to trial.

   1996, Kathleen Daly, Gender, Crime, and Punishment, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 20

   Alford plea. A guilty plea entered as part of a plea bargain by a criminal defendant who denies committing the crime or who does not actually admit his guilt. In federal courts, such plea may be accepted as long as there is evidence that the defendant is actually guilty. Named after North Carolina v. Alford (1970.)

   2006, Susan Ellis Wild, Webster's New World Law Dictionary, Webster's New World, →ISBN, page 21

   Synonyms: Kennedy plea