recant (ri-kant), vb. 1. To withdraw or renounce (prior statements or testimony) formally or publicly (the prosecution hoped the eyewitness wouldn’t recant her corroborating testimony on the stand). 2. To withdraw or renounce prior statements or testimony formally or publicly (under grueling cross-examination, the witness recanted). — recantation, n.
Larrison rule (lar-[schwa]-s[schwa]n).Criminal law. The doctrine that a defendant may be entitled to a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence of false testimony by a government witness if the jury might have reached a different conclusion without the evidence and it unfairly surprised the defendant at trial. Larrison v. United States, 24
faggot. Hist. 1. A piece of firewood used to burn a heretic alive. 2. An embroidered figure of a faggot, required to be worn by heretics who had recanted.
retraction, n. 1. The act of taking or drawing back (retraction of anticipatory repudiation before breach of contract). 2. The act of recanting; a statement in recantation (retraction of a defamatory remark). [Cases: Libel and Slander 66. C.J.S. Libel and Slander; Injurious Falsehood§ 195.] 3. Wills & estates. A withdrawal of a renunciation (because of