Definition of open verdict in US English:
open verdict
nounˈˌoʊpən ˈvərˌdɪktˈˌōpən ˈvərˌdikt
Law A verdict of a coroner's jury affirming the occurrence of a suspicious death but not specifying the cause.
Example sentencesExamples
- A coroner has recorded an open verdict on the death of a 26-stone Tewkesbury man whose wife fears that chemicals at his workplace triggered his demise.
- The coroner has ruled an open verdict on the death of a woman who fell out of a second-storey window of a Blackpool residential home.
- A north Derbyshire coroner has recorded an open verdict into the death of a mother of twins who walked off an acute psychiatric ward and was later found drowned.
- In October, a coroner recorded an open verdict on her death.
- A coroner has recorded an open verdict following the death of an elderly woman at the Great Western Hospital in September last year.