true bill

noun

: a bill of indictment endorsed by a grand jury as warranting prosecution of the accused

Examples of true bill in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In June, a grand jury returned no true bill, meaning he was not indicted and his criminal case was subsequently dismissed. Rachel Smith, The Courier-Journal, 25 Jan. 2024 In a Wednesday release, Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina Whethers said a grand jury examining the case had returned a no true bill, meaning not enough evidence was found to put forward criminal charges against a defendant. Lucas Aulbach, The Courier-Journal, 21 June 2023 When prosecutors sought to indict Shifflett, a grand jury refused to return the true bill needed to bring a criminal case in court. Olivia Diaz, Washington Post, 5 May 2023 At least seven jurors are required to vote yes in order to issue an indictment, also referred to as a true bill. Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 10 Apr. 2023 The case was presented to a criminal grand jury, which returned a true bill Monday and led to the indictments, Anderson said. NBC News, 21 July 2021 The case was being presented to a Cuyahoga County grand jury on March 11, in hopes of a true bill that would put him before a judge in Mental Health Court. Thomas Jewell, cleveland, 13 Mar. 2021 The Multnomah County District Attorney announced the development Friday, one week after jurors issued a not-true bill against Dario Papa-Vicente on any charges related to the killing of Noah Terry. oregonlive, 16 Jan. 2021 Nevertheless, these cases do not result in no true bills. Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 14 Sep. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'true bill.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1616, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of true bill was in 1616

Dictionary Entries Near true bill

Cite this Entry

“True bill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/true%20bill. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Legal Definition

true bill

see bill sense 3b

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