cop a plea
Accept lesser charges
Cop a plea is to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for avoiding prosecution on a more serious one.
The arrangement, called a plea bargain, is negotiated between defendant and prosecutor: He copped a plea to avoid a murder trial.
More loosely, to cop a plea is to make excuses or beg for leniency.
- confessAcknowledge wrongdoing openly
- cut a dealReach a mutual agreement
- admitConfess or grant entry
- dealAgreement or distribution
- felonySerious criminal offense
make a deal · negotiation · defendant · misdemeanor · bargaining · lesser charge · reduced sentence · colloquialism · indictment · arraignment · idiom · prosecutor · vernacular · concede · agreement · settlement · criminal charge · court hearing
- prison slangshank, shiv, yard, cellie, commissary