innocence claim
Denial of guilt
An innocence claim is an assertion by a convicted person that they did not commit the crime.
The term appears most often in legal contexts involving appeals, DNA evidence, or wrongful conviction cases: The Innocence Project took up his innocence claim after new witnesses emerged.
Distinguished from technical legal challenges, an innocence claim asserts actual factual innocence rather than procedural errors.
- exonerationOfficial clearing of blame
- alibiDefense of location
- wrongful convictionErroneous guilty verdict
- death rowHousing for condemned prisoners
- denialRefusal to accept reality
plea · defendant · courtroom · testimony · evidence · new evidence · acquittal · case dismissed · protest · fingerprints · false confession · DNA · appeal · cold case · pardon · accused · suspect · prison
innocence claimconfession
Admission of wrongdoing
guilty plea · admission of guilt · admission · guilty verdict · self-incrimination
innocence claimconfession
Admission of wrongdoing
admission of guilt · admission · mea culpa · taking responsibility · owning up
innocence, claim, innocent, innocently, innocents, innocency, innoxious, noxious, nocuous