acquittal

An acquittal is a formal legal finding that a person charged with a crime is not guilty of the charges. It occurs when the evidence presented by the prosecution fails to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or when a court determines the charges are legally untenable. An acquittal does not declare the defendant innocent; it indicates that the prosecution did not meet the required burden of proof at trial.

Acquittals arise from verdicts delivered by a jury or by a judge in a bench trial. A defendant may be acquitted on all counts or on individual counts while other charges are resolved differently. The standard of proof is typically beyond a reasonable doubt, and many systems require a unanimous verdict, though exact rules about unanimity and verdict structure vary by jurisdiction.

Effects of an acquittal include the end of the state’s case on the acquitted charges and the protection against double jeopardy, which generally bars retrial for the same offense. However, an acquittal does not guarantee absolute label of innocence in the eyes of the public. Civil liability for the same conduct may still be pursued, as civil cases use a different burden of proof. Some jurisdictions also permit limited appeals of acquittals on purely legal grounds, such as misapplication of the law.

Partial acquittals or hung juries can occur in practice. A jury may acquit on certain counts while convicting on others, or a trial may end without a verdict if jurors cannot agree. In such cases, new proceedings may follow for unresolved charges, or the case may be tried anew on the remaining issues.