Kennedy plea
Kennedy plea noun: a plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit guilt, but concedes that the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
Noun
Kennedy plea (plural Kennedy pleas)
- A plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit guilt, but concedes that the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
- The Charleston man whose conviction for the shooting death of a former Marshall University football player was overturned, has entered a "Kennedy Plea", rather than go through a second trial... In a Kennedy Plea, the person does not accept guilt, but accepts the punishment for the crime.2014, WSAZ News Staff, "Jerel Garner Enters "Kennedy Plea" in Donte Newsome's Shooting Death", on WSAZ.com, 9 Sept. 2014
- To avoid a lengthy trial and possibly a harsher sentence, 34-year-old Don Douglas Dicken entered a Kennedy plea to the voluntary manslaughter of 46-year-old Glenn L. Farrow... When a defendant enters a Kennedy plea, he or she does not admit committing the criminal act, but believes a plea deal is...2014 December 2, Wendy Holdren, “Don Dicken enters Kennedy plea to voluntary manslaughter”, in The Register Herald
- Synonyms:
- Alford plea
Examples of Kennedy plea in a sentence
- To avoid a lengthy trial and possibly a harsher sentence, 34-year-old Don Douglas Dicken entered a Kennedy plea to the voluntary manslaughter of 46-year-old Glenn L.2014 December 2, Wendy Holdren, “Don Dicken enters Kennedy plea to voluntary manslaughter”, in The Register Herald:
- Williams previously entered a Kennedy plea to second-degree robbery.2016 February 2, Courtney Hessler, “Man sentenced to 30 years in 2014 armed robbery ring”, in The Herald Dispatch:
Synonyms of Kennedy plea
Forms of Kennedy plea
| plural | Kennedy pleas |
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Origin of Kennedy plea
From the case of Kennedy v. Frazier, 178 W.Va. 10, 357 S.E.2d 43 (1987), in which the procedure was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Questions about Kennedy plea
- What does Kennedy plea mean?
- Kennedy plea means a plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit guilt, but concedes that the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
- How do you use Kennedy plea in a sentence?
- To avoid a lengthy trial and possibly a harsher sentence, 34-year-old Don Douglas Dicken entered a Kennedy plea to the voluntary manslaughter of 46-year-old Glenn L.
- What part of speech is Kennedy plea?
- Kennedy plea is a noun.
- What is the plural of Kennedy plea?
- The plural of Kennedy plea is Kennedy pleas.
Words near Kennedy plea in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Kennedy plea (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “Kennedy plea.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kennedy_plea. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.