Soiled Dove Plea

The Soiled Dove Plea was a speech delivered by the attorney Temple Lea Houston on behalf of a hopelessly guilty prostitute, Minnie Stacey, in 1899 in Woodward, Oklahoma. The accused prostitute was scheduled to be tried for prostitution one morning and the judge discovered she had neither attorney nor money. Houston agreed to defend her and delivered extemporaneously the Soiled Dove speech also known as the Plea for a Fallen Woman. It is considered by many trial attorneys to be the perfect closing argument. The all-male jury acquitted the accused by unanimous verdict as soon as they reached the jury room.

References

Glenn Shirley, "Temple Houston", 1980, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 268-271

Hank Bass, "Temple Lea Houston: Gun-Toting, Bible-Quoting Lawyer of the Old West", Texas Bar Journal.