Free Republic

Imagine that a senior Hillary aide--not to mention Hillary herself--were indicted over the email scandal. In a million years, could you imagine John Heilemann asking what such person would have to do to prove his or her innocence? Neither could I. But on today's With All Due Respect, Heilemann asked a Florida criminal defense attorney [not Lewandowski's lawyer]: "What is the legal standard? What does Corey Lewandowski have to prove, to prove his innocence?" Attorney Whitney Boan politely pointed out that under the Constitution, Lewandowski doesn't have to prove or disprove anything, and that to the contrary the burden is...

The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law -- U.S. Supreme Court, Coffin v. United States [1895]. Was [there] enough evidence to find that they were not guilty? -- ABC News, Matter of Martin Lee Anderson [2007]. Forget that musty old 19th-century Supreme Court stuff. According to ABC, there's a new legal standard in criminal cases; at least those in which the MSM has a rooting interest. Henceforth, the presumption of innocence in...