What is the word or words for when a person gets himself falsely exonerated for a crime?
Suppose a person has been convicted of murder. He did it. He bribes witnesses and manufactures evidence to clear himself while in jail. How do you say this in one word or phrase? It's as simple as:
He ____.
The thesaurus entries for 'exonerate' (like 'absolve' or 'exculpate') all seem to lean towards innocence. An answer doesn't have to be formal or informal; anything where you don't have to explicitly specify 'false' and 'not found guilty'.
Solution 1:
Your question is a little unclear. If someone has already been convicted of a crime, they wouldn't be bribing witnesses nor particularly manufacturing evidence unless they were attempting to introduce new evidence to contradict existing evidence in an appeal. All of the original witness testimony and material evidence would be a matter of court record and virtually indisputable. Until a court of appeals reversed the previous conviction, they would be considered a convicted felon.
FWIW, it is typically a lot harder to reverse a conviction on appeal then to beat the original charge.
However, if they were charged with an offence then bribed witnesses and/or manufactured evidence that confounded the prosecution's case against them then it could be said that they:
- got off scot-free
- beat the rap
- were left unpunished
- got away with murder
- saved their hide
Solution 2:
What is the word or words for when a person gets himself falsely exonerated for a crime?
to get off TFD an idiom
To cause someone to receive a less severe punishment or avoid punishment altogether. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "get" and "off."
As in:
Do you really think you can get this guy off with a lighter sentence?
and
To receive a less severe punishment or avoid punishment altogether.
As in:
I can't believe that known criminal got off with such a light sentence.