Dan,
Honestly, and as a Republican, I say this: The best thing going
for Trump are the opposition candidates... No, really. America
is not ready to elect a Socialist or an old washed up has-been who
shows signs of dementia setting in. The other candidates have
nearly a zero chance of going a day past Super Tuesday. So if the
Dems put up Crazy Bernie or Creepy Joe, it's all over.
Yeah, Biden said he was a candidate for the US Senate. Does he even
KNOW what he's running for?? And, these socialists are blinded to the truth...let them have a 1 way ticket to Venezuela, where toilet paper is
a luxury...and maybe they'll see that "the conservatives were right".
Or as you said, the Democrats know they can't beat him, with what they
have on the slate (as you noted)...so, that's why they impeached him.
However, with the acquittal, as with a court trial, when the defendant
is acquitted (found not guilty), it's as if he never committed the
crime.
In the case of Trump's impeachment, the House "did such a shoddy job"
(never mind under hidden circumstances, etc.), and they wanted the
Senate to finish their work. They basically were the prosecution that
came to court with no documents, and the defense ripped them to shreds.
I served on jury duty in Little Rock back in 1998, during a 6 month
period, and also had a Criminal Justice Course in college 40 years ago.
Had I mentioned that, they would've likely dismissed me. But, in the
trial, the burden of proof is on the prosecution, as the defendant is
presumed innocent, unless convicted "beyond a reasonable doubt" by a
jury of their peers. If the prosecution or the defense doesn't do their
job, the other side will surely take advantage of it.
I was on 2 capital murder trials...and I can talk about them now,
since they happened over 20 years ago.
The first one, was where this one guy poured hot chicken grease on
another guy, burning him alive. In the opening arguments, the
prosecution said the defendant said "Let the M.F. burn"...and I thought
to myself (in the jury box) "Oh, this is going to be a bad one!!" <G>.
When it came time for the closing arguments, the female defense
attorney (it's not just for men anymore), said "I want you to find my
client guilty" (he testified in his own defense, even though he didn't
have to). I thought "Well, all righty, then...we don't have to worry
about acquittal!!" <G>.
The deliberations in both trials, was rather spirited...I told the
bailiff "you don't know the half of it".
As an aside...murder is murder...why the need for categories?? Also,
there was a great restaurant near the courthouse, Iriana's Pizza, in
downtown Little Rock...which brought the jurors dinner. I was at the
courthouse that day from 8am to 11pm. We had to go back the next morning
to do the sentencing phase. Both the victim and defendant were white in
the first trial, but black in the second trial.
Back to the first one, we ruled out Capital Murder, as they were both
drunk as coots...but also ruled out manslaughter, as the testimony in
both words and pictures was not for the squeamish. I and 5 others wanted
Murder 1 (murder in the first degree)...but because we split, with the
other 6 wanting Murder 2 (murder in the second degree), we had to go
with the lesser offense, but we gave him the max penalty. One of the
jurors was a firefighter for the Little Rock Fire Department, so his
comments were a big help.
In the second one, it apparently was a drug deal (with "the gold D's")
gone bad. They said the offender, this young black boy, was identified
with a mark on his face. The thing is, I pointed out, "if you only see
him from one side, you'll never see it".
Now, if they had said "we have his fingerprints on the bullets and
gun", we would've nailed him to the wall. But, BECAUSE we had the
REASONABLE DOUBT (it was expressed by others besides me), even though we
felt he was guilty, we had to acquit him.
In both trials, both white and black men and women were in the jury.
While I enjoyed doing it, my health won't ever let me do that again. In Arkansas, I think once you turn 70, you're exempt from jury service for
the rest of your life.
We only got $20 a day...but the lawyers got $1000 an hour (must be
nice). As jurors, we were told to "park at the parking meters", but
"don't put any money in them". They said "you may have a dozen tickets
on your windshield when you get back to your vehicle"...and instructed
us to "sign the ticket, but not the envelope", then "turn them in when
you come next time" (we only had to serve one day per week, or 8 times
in 6 months).
When the phone line opened the day before, I was "on the horn" to get
in the pool. I thought you had to be selected in voir dire to have it
count, but in just being there, it counted. Once I had my 8 days done, I
was finished.
(Continued to next message)
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