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June 13, 2005
Verdict!
I have paid almost no attention to the Michael Jackson I predict it will be guilty, not guilty, or a mistrial! Betcha I'm right! UPDATE: It was not a mistrial. The jury is described as having "a verdict." UPDATE (05:18 p.m.): And the verdict is..... I guess the prosecution shouldn't have been celebrating. MORE: My reaction? I've practiced enough criminal law to understand that reasonable doubt is a high hurdle for prosecutors to overcome. And when (as here) there is: the chances are high for an acquittal. This does not mean Jackson was in fact innocent of all wrongdoing, or that he might not have done what he was accused of doing. All it means is that the jury didn't think the prosecution overcame the presumption of reasonable doubt. Thus ends a seemingly endless media story. AND MORE: Matt Drudge is calling for the arrest of District Attorney Thomas Sneddon. I'm puzzled. Obviously, Drudge feels strongly that the prosecution of Jackson involved some sort of injustice. But without an explanation for the editorial outburst, I'm at a loss to know what he means. MORE: The reason I don't understand is because I don't closely follow the thinking of Matt Drudge. But others do, and a little research convinced me that Drudge's anger towards Sneddon is not based on his failure to convict Jackson, but his obvious bias and prejudice: Drudge on the Jackson case: Mr. Sneddon, will you prosecute the family if it is proven they are lying? It's the smear campaign and the finger pointing against Jackson that scares me. It is entirely wrong for the government to have pictures of your "private parts" just because you have been accused, in the way Jackson has.As I've said before, anyone can accuse anyone of anything. (And these days, anyone probably will.) Drudge may well be correct in his suspicions that there was a prosecutorial witchhunt. I don't know what Michael Jackson did, but I've learned to distrust hysteria. Anyone (including the guilty) can be framed. posted by Eric on 06.13.05 at 04:57 PM
Comments
I predict that you are right! Eric Scheie · June 13, 2005 06:06 PM I didn't pay any attention to this one way or another. The jury has rendered their verdict and that's enough for me. All I'll say is: Let's hope no idiot judge writes a book advocating abandoning or weaking the right of trial by jury, as a judge did right after the O. J. Simpson acquital. Trial by jury is one of our most precious rights. Let's keep it that way. It has been wisely said: "The 4 Boxes of Freedom: the ballot box, the soap box, the jury box, and the cartridge box." Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · June 13, 2005 11:51 PM Well said Steven. Media hype turns me off, but what's interesting about the jury verdict is that they spent so much time sitting there that eventually the hype wore off and they were stuck sitting on a criminal case in which they had to separate evidence from hype. The prosecutor tried this case in the media, and won! The jury, it turned out, wasn't the media, and that's what I finally found interesting. (Other than that, I share your lack of interest in the squalid celebritydom of Michael Jackson.) Eric Scheie · June 14, 2005 08:47 AM Matt Drudge is complaining about smear campaigns? That's almost funny...almost... Raging Bee · June 14, 2005 11:02 AM |
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Another prediction: legal analyst talking heads on TV will retroactively change their predictions so that they were correct.