plead

For the verb: "to plead"

Simple Past:	pled, pleaded
Past Participle:	pled, pleaded

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
plead/pliːd/

▶verb (past and past part. pleaded or US & dialect pled)

• 1 make an emotional appeal.

• 2 present and argue for (a position), especially in court or in another public context.

  ■ Law address a court as an advocate on behalf of a party.

• 3 Law state formally in court whether one is guilty or not guilty of the offence with which one is charged.

  ■ invoke (a reason or a point of law) as an accusation or defence: she pleaded self-defence.

  ■ offer or present as an excuse for doing or not doing something.

– derivatives
pleadable adjective (Law),
pleader noun,
pleading noun & adjective,
pleadingly adverb.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘to wrangle’): from OFr. plaidier ‘go to law’, from plaid (see plea).

usage: In a law court a person can plead guilty or plead not guilty. The phrase plead innocent is not a technical legal term, although it is commonly found in general use.