[lbo-talk] BHL defends DSK

SA s11131978 at gmail.com
Tue May 17 23:08:47 PDT 2011


On 5/18/2011 1:49 AM, brandelune at gmail.com wrote:


> I've seen a number of articles in the French press describing the
> legal process in this case and most make things very clear, I mean
> without any distortion at all.

There are some interesting gaps. On the one hand, one often reads that in America there's no presumption of innocence, because it's an adversarial system in which it's the responsibility of the defendant and his lawyer (not the juge d'instruction) to present evidence "a sa decharge." This is a confusion about what "presumption of innocence" means. In the US system, the defendant is (legally) innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof is on the prosecution.

On the other hand, you can read enormities about the "egalitarisme" of the US justice system. Much of the French press (and bizarrely, some of the American press) seems to be under the impression that the "perp walk" is only inflicted on rich and famous suspects. Those may be the most memorable perp walks. But anyone who has ever watched local TV news in the US ought to know that it is a routine practice in any case that has already drawn media attention, whether the suspect is famous or not. Usually the suspect is some street kid who accidentally shot a bystander. In either case the perp walk would be illegal in France.


> I'm so glad DSK is down. We're at last starting to have a chance to discuss politics, 12 months from the election.
>
> Him gone will likely change a lot of things on the left but also on the right. Because now, a number of candidates from the right will consider it possible to beat a weaker candidate from the left.

I agree.

SA



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