(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Ever wonder why reporters and lawyers worth their salt tend to use word like “suspect” and “allegedly” — even in the face of overwhelming evidence — whenever speaking about crimes the government accuses someone of committing? For example, Eric Adams is described as an “alleged” bribe acceptor, wire frauder, and the like because those things have not yet been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Good reporters have a respect for provable accuracy and good lawyers tend to care about due process. Know what cuts against both those things? A mayor offering the legal conclusion that a suspect is a terrorist in broad daylight before a jury has even been selected:
Aren't suspects supposed to have a presumptiom of innocence until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of their peers?
— eVANp (@alchemy2123) December 20, 2024
Thankfully @alchemy2123 isn’t the only one that managed to make this astute observation; Luigi’s attorney has done the same:
Luigi Mangione’s Attorney is not messing around calls out NYC Mayor Eric Adams for trying to influence the jury pool with prejudiced statements and says his client is being treated like a spectacle whose right to a fair trial is being violated. pic.twitter.com/6lq25gnNX4
— Power to the People ☭ (@ProudSocialist) December 23, 2024
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This is going to be a high-profile case. Full stop. But that does not mean that the state gets to cut corners or put their thumb on the scale. And before you make an argument that there’s no real difference between Eric Adams poisoning the well by calling Luigi a terrorist who killed a man and the recent attempts to inform the public about jury nullification, just know that the people’s power to nullify is a bedrock principle in our country’s history that has the power to change how we govern ourselves. An allegedly corrupt mayor trying to swing public opinion so that his CEO friends feel safe and may even slide some money toward his re-election campaign is just a bad day for due process.
Earlier: There’s Fresh Interest In Informing Potential Jurors About Jury Nullification
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.