Hate juries? Come on, Ryan. Without actually hearing the jurors’ explanations, one could easily imagine that this is an instance of nullification — the jury’s refusal to cave in to the attempt by the accusers’ parents to turn Jackson’s well-known peculiarities into a big, fat payday for themselves. Even if they were convinced that Jackson did everything alleged, they could very well have concluded that the wrong perpetrator was on trial — if anyone should have been in the dock, it was the parents who allowed their kids to have a sleepover with Mike.
Why hate the prosecutor? Imagine yourself in his shoes — into your office walks a couple who have offered their kids up to reputed pedophile in the hope of hitting the jackpot in the civil suit that will inevitably follow the criminal trial. They manage to present a complaint credible enough to justify a prosecution, so you can’t just throw them out of your office. But juries don’t have to put up with this sort of thing, and this one didn’t. If there’s anything worse than someone who preys on kids, it’s a parent who knowingly offers his kids up to such a person, and this verdict was, in effect, a conviction of the scumbags who did just that.
Hate juries? Come on, Ryan. Without actually hearing the jurors’ explanations, one could easily imagine that this is an instance of nullification — the jury’s refusal to cave in to the attempt by the accusers’ parents to turn Jackson’s well-known peculiarities into a big, fat payday for themselves. Even if they were convinced that Jackson did everything alleged, they could very well have concluded that the wrong perpetrator was on trial — if anyone should have been in the dock, it was the parents who allowed their kids to have a sleepover with Mike.
Shouldn’t you be hating the prosecutor instead?
Why hate the prosecutor? Imagine yourself in his shoes — into your office walks a couple who have offered their kids up to reputed pedophile in the hope of hitting the jackpot in the civil suit that will inevitably follow the criminal trial. They manage to present a complaint credible enough to justify a prosecution, so you can’t just throw them out of your office. But juries don’t have to put up with this sort of thing, and this one didn’t. If there’s anything worse than someone who preys on kids, it’s a parent who knowingly offers his kids up to such a person, and this verdict was, in effect, a conviction of the scumbags who did just that.
and of course “not guilty” is by no means the same thing as “innocent.” it probably goes back to reasonable doubt.
indeed, reasonable doubt. it wasn’t a very strong case. blame the prosecutor, if anyone.