Our Constitution

Last week a women in Florida was found not guilty of murdering her daughter, and today a  baseball player had his trial dismissed because the prosecution showed the jury a film clip the judge had earlier ruled to be inadmissible. In both cases I’ve heard people complain that the individual was “obviously guilty” and they are upset at what they see as a miscarriage of justice.

I disagree.

The laws of our country say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and that in the absence of proof the accused must go free. In the Florida case it appears that the prosecution had little more than circumstantial evidence to present, in fact they could not even specify the cause of death. While I personally feel the mother is an individual I could nether trust or like the fact remains that the state was unable to prove to 12 jurors that she had done the crime she was charged with.

In the case of the ball player that was charged with lying to Congress the judge had specifically said that a particular film clip could not be introduced as evidence yet the prosecution showed it to the jury anyway. The judge could easily have dismissed the case with prejudice but instead chose to stop the trial and order a future rehearing.

In both cases the decision was based on the Constitution that provides each of us a fair hearing if we are accused of a crime. And I would much rather have an occasional miscreant walk free than further weaken the very document that describes and enforces the rule of law we live under.

I'm Back

I stopped blogging the past few days for a very good reason. My Lady was able to come home for 5 days and I wanted and needed to focus on her and make her visit as enjoyable as possible. I leave it to her to tell you if I was successful, but I know that the time went by all too fast and the parting when she went back to the North West was bitter sweet.

I learned (as I had anticipated) that my cleaning standards are not up to her standards and that I have to do a better job of finding dust bunnies and related items of wifely concerns. Being a well trained husband I used the wise man’s response of “Yes Dear” and promised to do better in the future. But there were lots of moments of just holding hands, offering my troth and reveling in her being home.

Time went by much too rapidly and the house is a lot more lonely, even the pets realize she is away and they are trying to adjust to her absence by reminding me that I need to give them big meals and lots of treats. As a Gaffer however I have a reputation to uphold and I remind them in turn that I’ve got opposable thumbs and know how to use the can opener.