“punishment by process”
Good quote!! That applies to civil torts as well, because the claws are out to tear up the wronged in order to forestall any and all acknowledgment of liability.
As I have said before, anyone suffering injustice, has to suffer more, to obtain a modicum of justice, no matter how small.
HA! An apology after three more years of turmoil, only because we found an understanding attorney who was not in it for the money, was worth it!!
Is it worth it? Yes, but that is up to each person’s situation as to what they can individually bear in terms of time, suffering, and the financial costs associated.
EVERYONE is apparently, to one extent or another, willing to let the innocents go through the wringer. Doctors, lawyers, OK maybe not Indian Chiefs, at least not in my personal experience.
SO which laws are suspect? In the Duke case, in the Zimmerman case, they ultimately prevailed — but only because they were willing to undertake the fight.
So those laws, under which the accused ultimately prevailed, are still valid laws . . . ? “Merely” wrongly applied? Laws clear enough so that the innocent could be vindicated?
Now AACH again, what about the RICO-type laws?!? And why should laws be valid or invalid, depending upon the willingness and ability of those wrongly accused under said law, to somehow have the means and ability to challenge and prevail?
And why in all this complexity of law under which innocents suffer, should anyone defend criminal gangs?? Who are those among the many who are willing to put innocents through the wringer. Bystanders, even their own members.
Had Zimmerman, the Duke defendants not prevailed? would the law itself be more distorted for future cases?
It depends on the facts of each case, how amenable the case is to abuse, but the underlying law(s) in Zimmerman's case were murder vs. self defense; and in the Duke rape hoax, rape. There are very few people willing to champion the notion that murder, self-defense, and rape laws are "bad laws."
-- Had Zimmerman, the Duke defendants not prevailed? would the law itself be more distorted for future cases? --
Probably not. Those are examples of political prosecutions. action by prosecutors to curry favor. Zimmerman became a target because the blacks created a false public narrative. The special prosecutor applied politics, not the law, to the case. Similar with Duke rape, Nifong wanted to make a name for himself.
Had the system prevailed and the individuals been wrongly convicted, the DA would probably not face a similar opportunity in their lifetime.
There are cases of laws or precedents wrongly applied, affecting all of society forever after. See chronic dishonesty about the Presser case being used to uphold unconstitutional state gun laws, for decades, while the Supreme Court looked on and decided to do nothing.