the champagne of legal commentary...

sucks that i actually have work to get done, but what can you do? thanks to earl and reggie for keeping me entertained in st. lou over the weekend and lots of love to the newly married rhazes and his new bride cinnamon. great ceremony, lots of laughs, a few tears and just a huge ammount of love in the lou. also i had the greatest breakfast of my life in the lou at this place. two pork chops, two egs, hash browns, a biscuit and 262 cups of coffee.



on the business, loyal reader and high powered attorney, miller high life checks in with his long awaited michael jackson report. who's better than high life?



So Michael walked. Are any of us surprised? I am actually more surprised that the steps didn't light up one at a time as he danced out of the court room, a al Billy Jean video. So what happened? Do we brush this off as yet another example of the inequities in the American legal system? By no means do I suggest that the system is fair. A trial is not a search for the truth. It's two great storytellers telling two different versions of a story (two of probably 15 different versions). So where does that leave us. I don't think anyone thinks Michael was "innocent". However did he do everything the prosecution said he did? Probably not. And as soon as the defense can show that the prosecution is overreaching, chances are it is all over for the state's case.

The problem lies with the "victim". The prosecution's entire case rested on the testimony of the accuser and his mom, neither of which appeared to be very sympathetic victims (and a few former employees who were easily discredited). If you want to create reasonable doubt in the eyes of the jury, just make the jury question their credibility, which apparently wasn't very hard. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is a difficult burden, and while juries will be quick to judge a defendant, they are even quicker to judge a witness - and not rely on what they say. That coupled with an overzealous prosecutor (and his 12 year vendetta for MJ) and you have "reasonable doubt". And a freed Michael. Now for the comeback album. [Oh, and I think if you search the archives I said he would walk three months ago.]