Also:
bang to rights (UK)
catch someone dead to rights
Meaning of Idiom ‘Have Someone Dead to Rights’
To have someone dead to rights means to have overwhelming and irrefutable evidence of their guilt; to have caught someone in the act of committing a crime.
Usage Notes
The latter meaning, to catch someone engaged in a crime or other transgression, is very similar to catch red-handed.
The word ‘have’ is usually used as in ‘they have him dead to rights.’ To catch someone dead to rights is also possible, but less common.
Sentence Examples
“The DOJ has the former president dead to rights for violating the espionage act.”
“We have you dead to rights for the robbery. The store has surveillance cameras that clearly show you committing the crime.”
“Trump’s lawyers have formed joint defense agreements with Jerome Corsi, who Mueller appears to have dead to rights on both perjury and attempts to collude with Wikileaks.” (New York Magazine)
Origin
This idiom has been used since at least the mid-1800s.
The word ‘dead’ is used in this idiom to mean completely or absolutely, similar to idioms such as dead right, dead silent, dead center, and dead ringer. The word ‘rights’ means ‘in a proper manner.’
