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An ''Alford'' plea (also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an ''Alford'' guilty plea, and the ''Alford'' doctrine) in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court,〔〔〔 whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. In entering an Alford plea, the defendant admits that the evidence the prosecution has would be likely to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.〔〔 ==Origin== (詳細はUnited States Supreme Court case of ''North Carolina v. Alford'' (1970).〔〔 Henry Alford had been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in 1963.〔 Evidence in the case included testimony from witnesses that Alford had said, after the victim's death, that he had killed the individual.〔 Court testimony showed that Alford and the victim had argued at the victim's house.〔 Alford left the house, and afterwards the victim received a fatal gunshot wound when he opened the door responding to a knock.〔 Alford was faced with the possibility of capital punishment if convicted by a jury trial.〔 The death penalty was the default sentence by North Carolina law at the time, if two requisites in the case were satisfied:〔 the defendant had to have pled not guilty, and the jury did not instead recommend a life sentence.〔 Had he pled guilty to first-degree murder, Alford would have had the possibility of a life sentence and would have avoided the death penalty,〔 but he did not want to admit guilt. Nonetheless, Alford pled guilty to second-degree murder and said he was doing so to avoid a death sentence, were he to be convicted of first-degree murder, after attempting to contest that charge.〔 Alford was sentenced to 30 years in prison, after the trial judge accepted the plea bargain and ruled that the defendant had been adequately advised by his defense lawyer.〔 Alford appealed and requested a new trial, arguing he was forced into a guilty plea because he was afraid of receiving a death sentence.〔 The Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled that the defendant had voluntarily entered the guilty plea, with knowledge of what that meant.〔 Following this ruling, Alford petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, which upheld the initial ruling, and subsequently to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which ruled that Alford's plea was not voluntary, because it was made under fear of the death penalty.〔 "I just pleaded guilty because they said if I didn't, they would gas me for it," wrote Alford in one of his appeals.〔 The case was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Supreme Court Justice Byron White wrote the majority decision, which held that for the plea to be accepted, the defendant must have been advised by a competent lawyer who was able to inform the individual that his best decision in the case would be to enter a guilty plea. The Court ruled that the defendant can enter such a plea "when he concludes that his interests require a guilty plea and the record strongly indicates guilt".〔 The Court allowed the guilty plea with a simultaneous protestation of innocence only because there was enough evidence to show that the prosecution had a strong case for a conviction, and the defendant was entering such a plea to avoid this possible sentencing.〔 The Court went on to note that even if the defendant could have shown that he would not have entered a guilty plea "but for" the rationale of receiving a lesser sentence, the plea itself would not have been ruled invalid.〔 As evidence existed that could have supported Alford's conviction, the Supreme Court held that his guilty plea was allowable while the defendant himself still maintained that he was not guilty.〔 Alford died in prison, in 1975. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alford plea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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