"... Was the elected official acquitted absolutely and clearly, or was the acquittal due to doubt, and stemmed from the degree of rigorous proof required in criminal trials, according to which a defendant may be acquitted even if it is found that the balance of probabilities tends to the incriminating version? In the case of an acquittal due to doubt, the participation rate will be significantly lower than in the case of a complete acquittal, based on a determination that the elected official did not commit the offenses attributed to him."
- The rule that orders the award of defense expenses and compensation in the case of a complete acquittal, with the exception of exceptions that negate the right or justify a reduction in the payment, even derives
from the effect of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty on the interpretation of section 80(a) of the Law. I discussed this in Criminal Appeal 960/99, supra (The Macmillan Case [18]), at pp. 304-305:
"Prosecuting violates the rights set forth in the Basic Laws – the right to privacy and sometimes the right to liberty, freedom of occupation and freedom of property... Ostensibly, therefore, when a person is found to be innocent, he is entitled to payment of defense expenses and compensation for his arrest or imprisonment by the state. However, like any other right, this right is not absolute. As stated, it was limited by the aforementioned section 80(a) itself, which balances the conflicting interests – the rights of the defendant on the one hand, and the public interest on the other.
The aforementioned section 80(a) should therefore be interpreted in the spirit of the Basic Laws – to the extent that this interpretation is possible – so that the violation of the defendant's right will be for a proper purpose and to the extent that it does not exceed what is required...
...
The limitation of the right to defense expenses and compensation to the two grounds set out in section 80(a) of the Penal Law makes it impossible to interpret the section so that, as a rule, the very acquittal of a defendant will obligate the state to pay. This, although in my opinion such an expansion is appropriate...