Plea Here refers to plea.

1、请求，恳求;

She made an impassioned plea for help. 她恳切地求助.

a plea to industries to stop pollution，请求实业界停止污染。

声泪俱下的恳求就是tearful plea

2、来自被告的抗辩答辩，

辩护： a plea of guilty/not guilty表示 承认或者不承认有罪 to enter a guilty plea 意为正式表示认罪

3、 (向法庭提供的)理由，借口，辩解

他被指控犯了谋杀罪但以精神错乱为由逃过惩罚， He was accused with murder，but got off on aplea of insanity