not guilty

Definitions

1. 1

   A formal plea by a defendant of not being culpable for the crime with which the defendant…

   A formal plea by a defendant of not being culpable for the crime with which the defendant is charged.

   • If you do not plead, a plea of not guilty will be entered for you.
2. 2

   A verdict or formal finding by the legal system that a defendant is not culpable for the…

   A verdict or formal finding by the legal system that a defendant is not culpable for the crime with which the defendant was charged.

   • My heart beats through five not guilties. Six, seven, nine, eleven. Seventeen not guilties. The prosecutor's lips curl.
3. 3

   A member of a jury or tribunal supporting acquittal, or a vote cast in support of…

   A member of a jury or tribunal supporting acquittal, or a vote cast in support of acquittal.

   • Two not guilties. Seven for conviction. "I'm a 'not guilty,'" she said.
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   1. 4

      A person who has been acquitted of a crime.

      • The not guilties walked out and went to work if they had jobs; the guilties were hauled away to spend maybe thirty days on the county farm growing cabbage.
   2. 5

      Of a person, legally innocent of a crime which they have been accused of in a court of…

      Of a person, legally innocent of a crime which they have been accused of in a court of law.

      • He was found not guilty because there was a reasonable doubt.
   3. 6

      Innocent.

      • The jury said he was not guilty. I knew he wouldn't have done something like that.

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