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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Why should you care about innocent people in prison?

This is a sore spot with me. I often see people get outraged because someone they think is guilty ends up walking free because the police, or the prosecutor, did not follow the rules, or because there just isn’t enough evidence to convict them. What I don’t understand is why the same people simply shrug when they learn about a person that is innocent being in prison.

What each of us has to remember is that the prosecution represents us in our quest for justice. We should understand that, whenever an innocent person is in jail, it is no different than if we had personally locked them in our basement for no reason, Every time the government locks up an innocent person, for whatever reason, every single citizen is morally responsible for it. We are all acquiescing to kidnapping whenever it happens.

Blackstone’s formulation is the most famous expression of the principle that our justice systems is founded on. He said that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. What most people don’t realize is that he actually modified a much older principle that dates back to the days of Abraham. Maimonides is usually credited with writing it down in his compilation of the 613 commandments in the Torah. “It is better, and more satisfactory, to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.” Maimonides believed that using the death penalty in any case of less than absolute certainty led to a slippery slope that would result in decreasing burdens of proof that would result in people being convicted at the whim of the judge.

If life were only that simple.

We, as citizens, need to remember that whenever an innocent person is behind bars, for whatever reason, every single one of us suffers.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Wrongful Acquittals?

I just came across this editorial by a prosecutor in Erie County, New York. If I were to give him the benefit of the doubt, I would say he is delusional. Even if he, personally, adheres to the highest ethical standards, which I personally doubt, there is no way he can speak for all the prosecutors in New York, or even his office. On top of that, not once in his description of the review process did he once mention verifying that they have the right suspect, all they are worried about is whether they can get a conviction.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/viewpoints/article1022094.ece

No concern at all about whether the accused actually committed the crime, just make sure that you have a chance to win before you file the charges.

He then goes on to defend the record of his office by pointing out that not one of the convictions they have obtained has been overturned because the defendant was innocent. That is admirable, but it really doesn’t prove anything other than it is almost impossible to prove you are innocent once you have been convicted. In fact, it is almost impossible to prove you are innocent once you have been charged.

My guess is that every single one of the 33 people he says were probably innocent provided hard evidence of their innocence. By the way, his office did not exonerate any of those people, it simply dropped the charges because they couldn’t prove them. Exoneration only occurs after a conviction, not before.

There is no way on Earth that his office prosecuted thousands of people without once getting it wrong. That would make them perfect, a state that is not possible for a human being to attain. Strangely enough, the prosecutor’s office in Buffalo New York has prosecuted at least two people who were innocent, one of them in the time frame he is asserting that no such thing happened. Habib Wahir Abdal and Anthony Capozzi, both convicted of rape, and exonerated by Innocence Project.

Prosecutors need to remember they are not their to get convictions, they are there to serve justice. Is the system stacked against them? Yes, but it should be. Taking away a man’s life or liberty is the cruelest thing we can do to people, it should be hard. In fact, it should be all but impossible, despite the arguments of prosecutors like Frank Sedita III and their complaints about how difficult it is to get a conviction even when the know a person is guilty.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

About time

I know you probably don’t know me, and I have no idea exactly when I first set this account up, but I think it is about time I started using it. I am pretty sure I chose books as my theme here because I wanted to talk about writing, but I am probably going to be talking about a lot of things. I am going to use this blog as a springboard into my writing, but my thought processes might appear a little chaotic to the uninitiated, which includes everyone outside my head.

What prompted me to post today? I really can’t tell you. I know I really need to start writing again, and sometimes the only way to do that is sit down and start typing. I want to make this a full time gig, and make a little money at it. I have been told by a few people, including a couple I really respect, that I am really good at this, but I will leave that you, my readers, to decide for yourself.

I think the best way for you to get an idea of that is for me to post a story. This story was one of my first, so it is a rough by my standards today, but I actually like it, and I hope everyone else does too.

 

Describe your perfect, dream meal. Not only the menu, but the place settings, the room it is in, who you are eating with, lights, music. Let me feel like i need to go to the gym after i read it.

My best meal ever, I may be a bit complicated, but I am a man with simple tastes. I have eaten many different cuisines through the years, and have develop[ed a taste for some of the finer foods, but I would rather sit down to a cheeseburger than a good steak.

But this is about a perfect, dream meal, and I am going to show that the simple things in life are better than most people give them credit for.

We are in Fort Worth, home to a restaurant that consistently gets voted as having the best cheeseburgers in Texas by the readers of Texas Monthly. My humble opinion is that those people do not know what they are talking about.

I make advance arrangements with the owner of my favorite place to eat. There is nothing whatever that would cause anyone to look this place twice, in fact I almost walked past it the first time. If I had not been so hungry I would have. There area few tables in front of the door booths along one wall. I like it because the floor is spotless and the tables are clean.

When you walk in the smell is not what you would expect from a hamburger joint. There is a slight smell of grease, but it is richer, fuller grease than you would expect here, almost like walking into the kitchen of a steak house. The counter is in the back, and the menu board hangs along the back wall, next to the hall for the bathroom.

As we walk in the Barry White CD is playing just as I asked. I tell Mishka to sit and go back to pick up what I had ordered, they were just finishing it up because I was a bit early.

Lighting, I almost forgot about that. As they were open after their regular hours I was able to get them to turn off about half the lights. Understand, this did not make the place dark, just a bit dimmer than normal. I took the tray back to the booth and placed it in front of Mishka. Now, the menu, cheeseburgers, home cut fries, salad, and Dr. Pepper.

These are not ordinary cheeseburgers here, by the way. You start with some onions, sauté them, stir in some green peppers, add spices that they will not tell me about, and then take the result off the grill. You then mix this into a quarter pound of USDA choice ground sirloin. You then put this back on the grill. As the patty cooks you gather up some mushrooms and throw them on the grill to cook in the grease from the burger. After the patty is almost done you get a thick slice of cheddar cheese and place it atop the patty, along with the mushrooms. You then take the bun and place on the grill to toast.

You then get fresh lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and onions together. You take the bottom bun and put on a plate and load the lettuce on to it, and then take the top of the bun and use it on to hold the mushrooms and melted cheese on the patty as you scoop it up and load it onto the bun.

The fries are home cut, and deep fried in butter flavored Crisco. I like them because they finish cooking them. They are golden brown crisp, and hot.

Back to Mishka, I watch as she takes her first bite of the cheeseburger, the rich flavor of the premium meat and the juices flood her mouth. The sharpness of the cheddar cheese contrasts with the mushrooms. The crisp lettuce, onion, and the juice ripe tomato combine in a taste she has never before experienced. I can see the delight and surprise as she realizes that this is the best cheeseburger that she has ever tasted, and I smile as I reach for mine.

Being more experienced I savor that first bite, every burger at this place is unique in its flavor because there is no set quantity for the mix that they put in the meat. I savor the tang of the cheddar, and the wonderful sensation of the fresh vegetables, especially the ripe tomatoes. I am in ecstasy as the juice of the meat floods my mouth, and I concentrate on the subtle undertones that I am expecting, the grilled onion and pepper, and the spices. Cumin, Oregano, and what? I can not pin it down, but I savor each bite as the taste sensation that it is.

We eat the heaping pile of fries as we go, the butter flavor adding a rich flavor that cries out to not be covered with catsup. Mishka expresses her delight with the meal and, of course, the company. And I know that I have converted another to this tiny place where they make the best cheeseburgers in Texas. Then she tastes the topper of the meal, the Dr. Pepper. She makes a face and I just remind her that this is the national drink of Texas, and every true Texan learns to love it.