plea-bargain

plural plea-bargains · alternative plea bargain · alternative pleabargain

1. USalternativelawAlternative form of plea bargain (“an agreement between a defendant and the prosecution in which the defendant agrees to a plea such as guilty or nolo contendere to a lesser charge rather than contesting a greater charge”).

present singular third person plea-bargains · participle present plea-bargaining · participle past plea-bargained · past plea-bargained · alternative plea bargain · alternative pleabargain

1. USlawTo make an agreement in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge instead of not guilty to a greater one.

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   […] former District Attorney, Butters said "[…] I think the fact that so many plead guilty proves that these cases should have been prosecuted." One of those who plea-bargained disagrees. Ed Mede last week pleaded guilty to one count of sex with a minor under 16. "This does not prove my gilt ^([sic])," he insists. "It proves the injustice of the whole system. I could not go on paying for my attorney through a long trial. […] I did not want to face life in prison because of the whim of a biased judge or juror."

   1979 April 28, Tom Reeves, “Revere Sex Cases Resolved”, in Gay Community News, page 1