Caught Red Handed!

Order! Order! Order in court !
You are witness to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. My hubby is charged with ' acquiring chocolate by devious means and secreting it about his person, so as to avoid the wrath of the household.'
Today, despite his protestations of innocence, he was 'CAUGHT REDHANDED' removing a segment of chocolate orange from the fridge. I offer you evidence in the form of an instant photo taken at the scene of the crime. How plead you? Guilty or not guilty? I suggest to the jury that hubby was of sound mind at the time of the incident,and was willing to deprive other family members i.e. his ever loving wife, of her daily bread chocolate! Your decision should be based on the evidence before you. I suggest he be severely reprimanded and given a weeks community service --- GET THAT BEDROOM PAINTED!! The jury may adjourn to consider their verdict. You will be recalled within the next twenty four hours.
Do you know the origin of the phrase 'caught red handed?' We must thank (or conceivably blame) the famous Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott for having popularised this term, which was until his time purely a Scots expression. He used it first in his novel Ivanhoe of 1819: The expression itself, dates back to the fifteenth century.
The meaning was then the same as now. Somebody taken REDHANDED was either in the act of committing a crime or with clear evidence of it about him. The original reference was to literal red hands, those of a murderer stained with the blood of his victim. For many centuries it was not considered to be proof of guilt if someone was in possession of meat from another man's animal. It was impossible to prove that they were guilty under such circumstances. If, on the other hand, they had the blood of a freshly killed animal on their hands this was incontrovertible proof of guilt. In those days being caught red-handed usually meant a death sentence.
Today, while the punishment is likely to be far less draconian, the idea of being discovered in the middle of wrong-doing still remains with this expression.But it soon became broadened to refer figuratively to other crimes, for example to a thief being caught carrying stolen items and MY chocolate is such an item!