Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton
it is not about whether I (or you) believe it or not, it is up to a court to believe it or not
it says "innocent until proven guilty", not "innocent until The Squealer on GFY decided guilty"
as far as i know at least.
and in case you noticed my previous post: i said IF guilty then lock him away.
but i do not posses your superior wisdom to skip trial and sentence him based on newspaper reports and GFY posting history
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I cannot say he is guilty to the charges filed against him or that they will be successfully proven in court. I don't recall ever saying that. I was just challenging your challenging of peoples opinions and judgement and their right to either. The Criminal Justice system says "innocent until proven guilty". Not GFY forum rules. And that fact, doesn't mean people aren't entitled to opinions or to make judgements when hearing all or some of the evidence... and no one is suggesting he's not entitled to a fair trial. When a serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested with 1/2 eaten body parts in his refrigerator, eye witness accounts and so on, you're entitled to make some assumptions and have some opinions. It's not fair to pretend people aren't entitled to or to pretend they're somehow acting irrationally for having an opinion.
The other side of "innocent until proven guilty" is that people that actually committed the crime go free all the time, often on a silly technicality regarding the chain of evidence or simple procedural issues. That doesn't mean they didn't do it. The US criminal justice system as with those is most developed countries is heavily weighted towards the benefit of the accused, not the accuser.
Also, "guilty" in the US criminal justice system means "proven beyond a reasonable doubt"... not "proven 100% to be unassailable and incontrovertible fact". Basically, a guilty verdict is an opinion rendered after hearing the evidence and arguments of both sides. The verdict is just the opinions of jurors. We also see evidence, we also see his behavior and his actions and we also have opinions about Donny and his capacity for doing what he's accused of.