Dictionary of Legal Terms

Plea

In criminal law, any of four formal responses an accused may give to a criminal accusation. The four pleas are: 1) not guilty, which is a denial of the charges; 2) not guilty by reason of insanity, which asserts the defense of criminal insanity (this plea may be joined with a plea of not guilty); 3) no contest, which denies guilt but admits the facts on which the charge is based (this often is used when the accused fears a guilty plea may be used against him or her in a later civil suit); and 4) guilty, which is an admission that the accused committed the crime charged. See charge, criminal insanity.

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This dictionary was developed by the Ohio State Bar Association with funding from the Ohio State Bar Foundation. The information contained in this dictionary is general and should not be applied to specific legal problems without first consulting your own attorney.

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