Sunday, July 5, 2009

Sensitive Issue

No matter what your personal opinion is.....Michael Jackson is NOT a pedophile. Nor is OJ a murderer.

They were both acquitted in a court of law and ergo they are innocent.

You may have watched both trials maybe even intently, you may have formed your own conclusions and came to your own arm chair juror verdict. But your verdict doesn't count, your verdict is your OPINION.

Before you counter me with the civil case against OJ Simpson where he was found responsible for the murders of Nicole and Ron. He was not found culpable. There is a difference.

So before you go spouting off in public place (yes, the internet is a public place) with your opinion, please be sure to state as that - Your Opinion.

And for some of you reading this, I know you truly believe in your heart of hearts that YOUR opinion automatically equals FACT, well, you're wrong. Get over it.
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10 comments:

  1. If I snuck in my neighbors house at night and murdered him I am a murderer. I am a murderer regardless of who knows it or believes it or thinks it's an opinion. If I went to trial and was acquitted for that same crime I WOULD STILL BE A MURDERER. I would just not be a CONVICTED murderer. Our courts are wrong ALL THE TIME. We convict people who are innocent and we let people off who are guilty because our system of justice is not perfect. You are welcome to delete my comment but think about it. And yes, I worked in legal for years.

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  2. But who would KNOW you were a Murderer? ONly you and the person you murdered.

    If you are acquitted of the crime, no one else has the right to call you a murderer.

    I don't delete comments unless they are spam or hateful.

    I encourage differing opinions on this blog. Just ask my uncles. LOL

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  3. Twentyfour is right. Just because you have not been convicted of a crime does not make you not a criminal. You are right that my opion isn't fact but neither is the courts. EZ (it won't let me log in)

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  4. But yes, the courts RULING is indeed what we have to go by.

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  5. No one can prove innocent in a court of law. Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson were found "not guilty." This means that the prosecution did not meet it's burden of proof.

    Only those involved know the truth and the rest of us are left to speculate. They are not convicted of any crimes, but it does not mean that said crimes were not commited by the accused. This goes with any court case.

    I'm not saying that either one is guilty or not. Just that the courts never said they were innocent.

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  6. Well, if you make others qualify remarks with "in my opinion" then you have to qualify the other remarks with "in the eyes of the law."

    The courts are not definitively stating that OJ is not a murderer any more than I can definitively state that he is. Only he knows. But if he did it he is a murdered regardless of what the courts say.

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  7. Adrienne,

    You stand on firm ground when you say the court has ruled and that is the end of it. It is comforting to have suriety of mind and it enables a good nights sleep.

    However, there are miscarriages of justice and sometimes thay are corrected. Recently, for example, many cases have been reversed because of advanced DNA techniques. Also, some judgements have been put aside because a person did not have an adequate defence attorney.

    mamikaze has a point, the court does not declare innocence, it merely declares not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Rules of evidence bias the judge to not allow the hearing of all the evidence and the jury must work with what it hears. Just ask Kathy

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  8. Uncle Marcel I totally agree with you that rulings and appeals have been reverserd, but until that happens we have to respect the courts rulings.

    Unless you are personally involved in a case, you have no idea who is telling the truth and should only go by the evidence.

    I am simply asking for personaly opinions to be stated as opinions and not blurted as facts.

    You can not proclaim "Joe" to be a rapist, if in fact you have no personal knowledge of said rape or the court has not found him guilty of rape.

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  9. Also, the constitution proclaims innocence, not the court. According to our Constitution we are innocnet until proven guilty. Ergo if you are not proven guilty you are still innocent.

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  10. A look at the fifth admendment will show that you cannot be deprived of liberty without due process. The court system is set up so a defendant is presumed innocent and the prosceutor must prove guilt. This is a construct for orderly proceedings and a fair trial. When the state does not prove guilt it does not mean that the defendant is therefore innocent, it merely means the state could not prove it. Incedentally, the words "innocent until proven guilty" are not in the Constitution. That phrase has been used as a thumb-nail short cut to understandng the Constitution.

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