dead to rights

Idioms  

1. In the act of committing an error or crime, red-handed. For example, They caught the burglars dead to rights with the Oriental rugs. This phrase uses to rights in the sense of “at once.” [Slang; mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Bondi’s insults got the most press, because she would respond to any hard question by bringing up some irrelevant personal attack on whatever Democrat had her dead to rights.

From Salon

“Evil Unbound” grossed more than $270 million in a week, while another big-budget feature film, “Dead to Rights,” about Japan’s 1937 massacre of Chinese citizens in the eastern city of Nanjing, has grossed more than $420 million since its release in late July.

From The Wall Street Journal

Dead To Rights, or Nanjing Photo Studio, is a star-studded tale about a group of civilians who hide from Japanese troops in a photo studio.

From BBC

By the sixth episode Jarecki has Durst dead to rights to such a degree that Durst excuses himself to the bathroom and, forgetting his mic is still hot, murmurs, “There it is. You’re caught.”

From Salon

"They had her dead to rights," he said.

From Salon