Comments | otterdoc: Uhoh

otterdoc

Uhoh

Mar 29, 2005 20:02

Johnnie Cochran died.
Falwell is in critical condition.
And the Boy Scouts joined ‘the church’ in certain wrongdoing.

What in the hell happened today?!

-M.

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Smith's Lawyer says... fuzzybutt March 30 2005, 01:49:52 UTC

Smith's lawyer, Jack Strickland, told the Associated Press said(sic) that his client is "not taking this well. I've got to tell you, this is a good man, and I would hate to see the entirety of his life and the good things he's done defined by one incident."

[ I think Mr Smith is going to learn to take it like a good boy in the near future ]

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... otterdoc March 30 2005, 02:31:20 UTC

ONE incident?!
The dude was emailing kiddie porn.
Sorry, no sympathy here.

-M.

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... srakkt March 30 2005, 03:33:50 UTC

Worth noting here that he's only been charged, not yet convicted.

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... partran March 30 2005, 04:12:10 UTC

Give it time.

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... otterdoc March 30 2005, 12:29:25 UTC

Ok, true, and I'll concede that he's only been charged.
However, given the seriousness of the charges, one would hope (again, I realize it's not 100% sure) that the law enforcement branches doing the charging would have a strong case.

-M.

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... srakkt March 30 2005, 13:17:56 UTC

Sure, but a strong case does not a guilty man make. Our system holds that he's innocent until a court proves otherwise. While that system is not without error, it's certainly a darn good one.

I'll admit that this particular case hits a little close to home. I found out about a year ago that my old scoutmaster had been accused of inappropriate dalliances with one of the boys, well after I had moved away from town; but even after the boy in question admitted that he'd made it all up, he still has to endure harsh social stigma, simply because he was once accused.

Re: Smith's Lawyer says... otterdoc March 30 2005, 17:46:26 UTC

And a teacher in my school system (who I had for more than one class during elementary school) spent a long time in prison for touching students inappropriately.

So, obviously, the balance tips both ways.

It's an interesting set of questions regarding the way we allow our perceptions to be shaped by the media, and furthermore by our own conceptions of right and wrong, moral and immoral, with regard to certain crimes. Few people get as fervent about murder as they do about something like child molestation.

Harsh social stigma is an unfortunate price for being found not-guilty. I'm not trying to pin this on your example specifically, but I also wonder how often high-profile cases like this (with the inevitable high priced laywers and courtroom circuses) end up stifling information that should have been brought to light and considered in the process of trying the case fairly. How much does the money influence the justice?

Time will tell with this one. Sort of.

-M.

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