meaning of must

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

I wonder the meaning of the sentence below:

Whatever he pleads, the judge must find him guilty in the face of all that evidence.

  1. Whatever he pleads, the judge has to find him guilty despite of all that evidence.
  2. Whatever he pleads, there is high possibility that the judge finds him guilty despite of all that evidence.

What would you choose for the meaning of the sentence?

Thank you in advance,
sweetpumpkin

2

Hi, the meaning is “Whatever he pleads, the judge has to find him guilty because of all that evidence that is confronting him.” “In the face of” does not imply “despite”, it implies that the evidence is overwhelming.

3

The overall evidence is not in favour of the accused, and it is so evidently against him that he cannot go without being found guilty however hard he might plead his defence.

4

Sorry, I couldn’t totally agree relying on the following definitions:
“In the face\teeth of—in opposition to or defiance of
21. in face of in the face of despite
…Idioms: …3.in the face of
a. in spite of; notwithstanding
b. when confronted with [+ enemy; danger; threats; difficulty]
…having to deal with and in spite of: She succeeded in the face of difficulties”
thefreedictionary.com/ face

“50.
in the face of,

  1. in spite of; notwithstanding:
    She persevered in the face of many obstacles.
  2. when confronted with:
    They were steadfast in the face of disaster.” dictionary.com/browse/in–the–face–of

–Similar phrases ‘in someone’s face’ and ‘in your face’, are used to indicate defiance\confrontation.
Choosing between 1) and 2), I’d go with 2) –there’s strong probability the future decision will be just that (expressing necessity\our strong belief applied to a future situation by the means of ‘have to’, it should take ‘will have to’, not ‘has to’.)
(?)

5

Hi Eugene, Yes I agree, my post was unclear. I should have said that in this particular context “In the face of” does not imply “despite”, but as you say, “in the face of” can mean “despite” in other contexts.