0 to decide officially in a law court that someone is not guilty of a particular crime:
1 to decide officially in a court of law that someone is not guilty of a particular crime:
She was acquitted.
The jury acquitted him.
2 to cause yourself to perform or behave in the stated way:
She acquitted herself well, finishing second.
Of the eleven, two had not been brought to trial, six were acquitted, and the remainder's case was deemed a mistrial.
Two members of the group were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Jurors showed their skepticism again in an early 1905 case by acquitting a defendant who had fingerprint evidence against him.
The burden then falls on the petitioner to show that "no reasonable cause" exists to believe that she committed the crime of which she has just been acquitted. 29.
Thus, he should be acquitted.
Indeed, each juror may in turn be held by his fellows to give his reasons for acquitting, though the better rule would seem to require these for convicting.
As it stands, the criminal law acquits defendants who, having attempted but not completed a crime, voluntarily change course, renounce their criminal purpose, and "abandon" the crime.
Then the wealthy or more powerful would not be acquitted or be given a less harsh sentence even when they committed the same crime as the poorer or weaker man.
