August 19, 2015

Innocent Unless Proven Guilty

By Tammy Derouin

I was selected for jury duty this past week.  This wasn’t my first experience, in fact, it was my fourth time being called but only the first time I didn’t end up on a jury.  The experience served as a reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a country where you are innocent unless proven guilty.  This is something the defense attorney emphasized continuously as jury selection took place.   

Jury duty isn’t something most people look forward to doing.  In fact, I would bet most people shudder when they realize what that distinctive looking envelope means. It is an inconvenience. Your life is disrupted.  For a minimum of one week, you have to have a backup plan.  Your normal chaotic routine just got even more hectic. You need to make arrangements at work, daycare and possibly deal with a lack of income for several days. 

Nobody in the jury assembly room was overjoyed to be at the courthouse.  As we moved to the courtroom, anxiety increased. After the initial thirteen were placed in the jury box, the attorneys spent the rest of the day removing and replacing jurors until both sides were satisfied that they had found an impartial jury. 

I’m sure everyone would have preferred to have been in a different location, especially the defendant.  The defense attorney made sure everyone understood his client was presumed innocent. Just because you are a defendant, doesn’t mean you are guilty. The prosecution, the state, must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The defendant does not need to testify, nor does he need to prove his innocence.

Many of us already know that you are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.  But, many changes have taken place in our educational system as well as our government.  We have moved away from teaching how our system of government is supposed to work.  Our highest elected officials disregard our Constitution, the supreme law of our land. 

Knowledge is power. Why teach something that isn’t going to be followed?  If more Americans truly knew and understood the abuse of power which is currently taking place in all branches of government, Americans would be focused on reality and not focused on the distractions being created by those who wish to fundamentally transform our country. 

Americans are being deceived.  Lack of knowledge, thanks to our turn-coat media, has made it easier for the deception to take place.  The media fans the flame to create a distraction, a false reality.  When we have a real crisis, such as Americans becoming the target of our enemies on our home soil, they minimize and downplay the real threat.  They tow the party line. Many of our government officials refuse to call our enemy our enemy.  Where’s the common sense?

The desire to find people who could make good common sense decisions based on evidence or lack thereof, was highly sought after by both attorneys.  To see the process in action, at the local level, makes the reality of why we have our current system of government much more transparent.  Common sense is desired to weigh both sides of the argument in a court case but apparently not needed when judging the actions of the executive.  One day the media will be identified as an accomplice in these crimes against America.

I listened to the defense attorney continuously state that his client was presumed innocent. It made me think about all the turmoil being created throughout our country to generate civil unrest.  The powers that be have engaged in some major pot-stirring tactics.  Common sense would tell many people that such an anti-American agenda was being pushed to create anarchy.

What is the motive, the reason why our local security, our police force has become the target of vile, violent behavior?  When a jury is told that police officers may testify, they are asked if they can hold them to the same standards as any other person.  Do they not also deserve the same assumption that they are presumed innocent unless proven guilty when charges are filed against them?  Would any one of us want to be the victim of mob justice? 

Why and how have we come to the point where problems are being created that probably do not exist, or at least not to the magnitude the flame fanners would have you believe, while real threats, real problems are being ignored and minimized?

The unwillingness to report the truth, the ability of corrupt politicians to withhold evidence, the unwillingness of far too many people to remove their blinders so they can actually see the true reality of our situation, enables the elite to lead the blind.

Knowledge is power but ignorance is rarely bliss.

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

Thomas Jefferson