plea deal
Prosecutor's offered compromise
A plea deal is an agreement between a prosecutor and defendant in which the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge or receives a reduced sentence in exchange for avoiding trial.
Most criminal cases in the United States end in plea deals rather than trials: Her lawyer negotiated a plea deal that dropped the felony to a misdemeanor.
Also called a plea bargain.
- sentenceComplete thought, grammatically
- allocutionFormal speech, especially pre-sentencing
- no contestUneven match or plea
- bargainFavorable purchase price
- lawyerLicensed legal representative
legal counsel · agreement · conviction · probation · behind bars · sentence reduction · time served · prosecutor · district attorney · negotiation · felony · misdemeanor · lesser charge · arraignment · court appearance · defendant · criminal defense · admission
- case endingsmotion to dismiss, dropped charges, nonsuit, without prejudice, summary judgment
- criminal justicearrest, jail, court, prison, crime
- criminal trialarraignment, defense attorney, courtroom, criminal trial, prosecutor
- negotiationbargaining, bargain, negotiate, mediation, compromise
- agreementshandshake, contract, nod, accords, verbal consent
- crime newscrime scene, court reporter, court reporting, breaking news, arrest report
plea dealjury trial
Legal proceeding with citizen panel
trial by jury · bench trial · litigation · criminal trial · trial verdict
plea dealacquittal
Formal clearing of charges
not guilty verdict · dismissal · charges dropped · exoneration · vindication
deal, dealer, dealing, plea, dealt, pleading, pleaded, dealership, pleas