The prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich if he really wanted to.
indict a ham sandwich
idiomOf a grand jury: to charge a person with a crime, despite a perceived lack of evidence.
Origin
first recorded 20th c. disputed originPossibly alluding to ham sandwich (“something utterly commonplace, of modest value”). The term was popularized by the American jurist Sol Wachtler (born 1930) who used it in 1985 shortly after his appointment as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals when expressing the view that the use of grand juries to bring indictments should be abolished: see the quotation from 1985.
Critics argue that the local grand jury is so compliant that they would indict a ham sandwich if the district attorney asked them to.
The legal system faces intense scrutiny when observers claim that a biased prosecutor possesses enough influence to indict a ham sandwich before a grand jury.
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air sandwich
A strategy that has high-level direction and low-level operations, but little in the middle.
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bite of the reality sandwich
A wake-up call, a reality check.
- 03
ham it up
To deliberately exaggerate one's emotions or movements, or to overact or act hammily.
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shit sandwich
Something highly undesirable that is rendered more acceptable or palatable by the addition of more tolerable or agreeable components.
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soup sandwich
Someone or something that is disorganized, incompetent, fundamentally flawed or unfinished.