putative offender

Among these was the replacement of the early medieval modes of proof normally employed in cases where the charge against a putative offender was not wholly provable, that is, oath, battle and ordeal.

Mr. Thornburgh argued in a speech Jan. 19 to the Federalist Society that appointing independent prosecutors infringed on the powers of the executive branch and threatened the rights of the subjects "by the built-in targeting of prosecutive efforts not upon prospective offenses, but upon putative offenders."