Wording can be important, Derek Bentley was on a warehouse roof (attempting to rob it) with a friend when a policeman found them, the friend pulled out a gun. Derek (who had the mental age of a 7 year old) said to his friend "Let him have it". 

His defence claimed he meant let the policeman have the gun, the prosecution said he was instructing his friend to "let him have it" ie shoot him. His friend did shoot and kill the officer and Derek was found guilty, the only sentence for murdering a policeman at that time was the death penalty. 

It was one of a handful of cases that eventually led to the UK scrapping the death penalty. But yeah, wording can be very important.