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So far this is the first time I've used the Facebook "LIKE" button. j-whitt987 Send a noteboard - 06/07/2011 04:46:06 AM
So thank goodness at least one person got it right. It's funny how much people trash defense attorneys for wanting to get their client off at any cost and regardless of guilt; prosecutors live and die by their conviction percentage. They often won't prosecute people they KNOW are guilty simply because they don't think they can win a conviction; the conviction percentage is SACRED, far more so than justice. The flip side of that coin is that if cops give them a solid case against a plausible suspect they have little interest in creating unwelcome reasonable doubt by investigating other possible culprits. Even if that means sending an innocent man to death row while an anonymous murderer roams free to strike again.

Reference to the O.J. trial is interesting, because it's always staggered me how people missed the real lessons of that case. First and foremost is how badly the police and prosecutors butchered an open and shut case; between investigators proven racism, contamination of otherwise irrefutable DNA evidence and insistence O.J. try on a glove they only found on their second pass through the crime scene, they practically manufactured reasonable doubt. The cops and prosecutors destroyed a wealth of opportunities to convict a man who almost certainly murdered two people, which is pathetic and a little disturbing. Take away reasonable doubt and we're left with a preponderance of evidence--exactly what convicted him in the CIVIL trial, where the standard of proof is very different than when a mans freedom, let alone his life, is at stake.

Which brings us back to the justice systems very foundation, and the bigger lesson of the O.J. trials, so it is only right following the celebration of Americas independence to review John Adams' defence at the trial of British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre:

We find in the rules laid down by the greatest English judges... [that] we are to look upon it as more beneficial that many guilty persons should escape unpunished than one innocent person should suffer. The reason is because it is of more importance to [the] community that innocence should be protected than it is that guilt should be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world that all of them cannot be punished, and many times they happen in such a manner that it is not of much consequence to the public whether they are punished or not. But when innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, “It is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself is no security.” And if such sentiment as this should take place in the mind of the subject there would be an end to all security whatsoever.

How often have we heard precisely this sentiment from convicted criminals? The concept that "if you do the time, do the crime", that an innocent man treated as a criminal might as well BECOME one? That's why it's better to free the guilty than condemn the innocent: Because a legal system that treats the innocent as guilty creates public contempt, not just for the system, but for the moral virtues it openly mocks. So if this woman actually murdered her own infant child and the prosecution managed, despite every weapon in its arsenal and the meager legal defense she could afford, to drop the ball, I truly lament that ineptness, but am truly grateful the jury refused to convict her without proof just because they "knew" she was guilty. What the peanut gallery "knows" (or thinks it does) despite no access to the evidence the REAL jury saw is as irrelevant as it is ignorant.


And I don't think that'll happen often. I "LIKE" to keep Facebook and RaFo separate.
Kirk: Spock, you want to know something? Everybody’s human.
Spock: I find that remark…insulting.
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Casey Anthony found the only 12 people on earth that didnt think she was guilty, Congratulations! - 05/07/2011 09:23:49 PM 1463 Views
Congrats, Casey! *NM* - 05/07/2011 09:57:48 PM 434 Views
Judge not lest you be judged - 05/07/2011 10:10:14 PM 815 Views
She was most certainly not found innocent. - 05/07/2011 10:46:08 PM 867 Views
I believe in divine judgement - 05/07/2011 11:38:44 PM 820 Views
I can tell you exactly why a jury didn't find her guilty of perjury, child neglect etc: - 06/07/2011 12:04:12 AM 1009 Views
she was found guilty of 7 counts of lying to the Authorities - 06/07/2011 12:10:03 AM 822 Views
Then she'll do some pretty hard time. - 06/07/2011 12:17:22 AM 788 Views
No she won't. - 07/07/2011 06:48:40 AM 865 Views
You so-and-sos convinced me to look this up on Wikipedia. - 06/07/2011 05:11:40 PM 895 Views
Missed this post when I was replying to your other post. - 07/07/2011 07:06:25 AM 831 Views
No biggy, I probably just should've edited the other one. - 09/07/2011 10:56:06 AM 853 Views
That tweet sums it all up... - 05/07/2011 10:43:55 PM 968 Views
The UK Supreme Court is live streamed online. - 06/07/2011 10:28:00 PM 806 Views
Kinda makes one wonder about how truthful and non-biased the information from the media is, no? - 05/07/2011 11:15:25 PM 748 Views
the thing is - 05/07/2011 11:30:17 PM 890 Views
The public was presented with all 33 days worth? - 05/07/2011 11:35:05 PM 766 Views
This *NM* - 05/07/2011 11:36:30 PM 349 Views
she was found guilty of lying to the authorities - 05/07/2011 11:49:03 PM 958 Views
No - 05/07/2011 11:56:52 PM 751 Views
I didn't watch it all, and I bet most of the public didn't either. - 05/07/2011 11:44:04 PM 803 Views
Also a good point. - 06/07/2011 12:23:16 AM 835 Views
murder conviction REQUIRES unanimity from the jury - 06/07/2011 03:40:21 PM 763 Views
Actually..... - 06/07/2011 07:33:31 PM 1079 Views
yes, you are right in fact - 07/07/2011 02:21:14 AM 1013 Views
Exactly! What did the jury learn that we the public didn't? - 05/07/2011 11:31:56 PM 753 Views
Did you spend 8 hours a day for a month going thru the evidence? *NM* - 05/07/2011 11:36:03 PM 376 Views
I think you misunderstood what she was saying. *NM* - 06/07/2011 12:21:30 AM 330 Views
The judicial system IS based on the belief it's better to free the guilty than condemn the innocent. - 05/07/2011 11:52:37 PM 905 Views
What a great John Adams quote! That sums it up perfectly *NM* - 06/07/2011 01:06:50 AM 454 Views
Thanks, it's a long time favorite of mine. - 06/07/2011 01:27:00 AM 732 Views
So far this is the first time I've used the Facebook "LIKE" button. - 06/07/2011 04:46:06 AM 879 Views
I cannot begin to express how little I care. - 06/07/2011 01:07:48 AM 729 Views
I would like to say the same. - 06/07/2011 01:21:36 AM 990 Views
*NM* - 06/07/2011 06:53:38 AM 298 Views
I wholeheartedly agree. - 06/07/2011 01:28:22 AM 843 Views
You think her race and sex are irrelevant to the media attention garnered? - 06/07/2011 06:55:33 AM 685 Views
In a word, yes. - 06/07/2011 12:27:37 PM 1026 Views
except it does apply. - 06/07/2011 02:43:08 PM 901 Views
I agree, but what if the accused was of a different race/ethnicity? - 06/07/2011 02:55:22 PM 816 Views
oh I'm sure we'd hear about how racist the media is - 06/07/2011 04:22:08 PM 950 Views
I agree, which is why I watch very little tv lately. *NM* - 06/07/2011 04:23:23 PM 432 Views
Except in this case it doesn't. - 06/07/2011 05:04:36 PM 854 Views
Yessssss - 06/07/2011 01:46:46 AM 692 Views
I agree 100 % - 06/07/2011 02:22:58 AM 718 Views
4shor *NM* - 06/07/2011 02:47:47 PM 351 Views
Re: I cannot begin to express how little I care. - 07/07/2011 07:14:03 AM 952 Views
Last I heard, we don't try people via the Court of Public Opinion *NM* - 06/07/2011 03:13:40 AM 312 Views
I agree. - 06/07/2011 04:38:46 AM 913 Views
VERY wrong place. . *NM* - 06/07/2011 02:52:21 PM 441 Views
Nope. I didn't think she was guilty of 1st degree murder. Nobody is to blame but the prosecutors... - 06/07/2011 04:37:39 AM 904 Views
she did claim the death was an accident and she was found not guilty of manslaughter as well *NM* - 06/07/2011 12:56:18 PM 442 Views
I thuught they would have had to charge her with that in order to convict her of it? - 07/07/2011 02:37:53 AM 630 Views
They did charge her with it - 07/07/2011 02:48:51 PM 860 Views
Yes, I didn't realize that was once of the charges. *NM* - 08/07/2011 03:32:11 AM 292 Views
The case should never have gone to trial - 06/07/2011 07:28:44 AM 875 Views
I don't think they proved murder - 06/07/2011 03:30:04 PM 728 Views
It's sad that so many people care so much about this case. - 06/07/2011 04:40:50 PM 696 Views
I agree. - 07/07/2011 05:35:35 AM 595 Views

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