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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Trial By Jury Still Our Strength

The most important moment in O.J. Simpson’s trial came just before the verdict was announced. For a couple of sweet, breathless minutes, the lawyers and the pundits and the people-on-the-street all fell silent.

And waited for the jury to speak.

Think about what that silence represents. This was not a trial by media, or a lynching in the court of popular opinion. It was a trial by jury.

That jury knew more about the case than the countless Americans who think they know what the outcome should have been. The jury’s information, unlike much of the public’s, went through a filter that includes an oath to tell the truth, as well as the demanding requirements of admissibility and fairness.

The jury’s decision also was shaped by a crucial requirement - one that applies to rich and poor, black and white: Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

There were serious problems in the credibility of the prosecution’s evidence. There was some justification, quite apart from racial passion, for the jury’s verdict.

After that verdict was announced, the bedlam resumed. It threatens to drown out our nation’s best qualities - qualities found in the constitutional rights that made us all fall silent and wait.

Yes, there were two tragic murders. There was domestic violence. There was racism and sloppiness in the police department. All of those things, unfortunately, are common as dirt.

We can’t cope with these difficulties via spectacles on TV. Sensation inflames our differences.

We must leave these matters with the courts. True, the courts aren’t perfect. When humans judge, we often fail. The law compensates for human imperfection by making convictions difficult to obtain. So a few guilty people go free. But fewer innocent people get convicted.

The greater outrage of these times is not that one rich, celebrity wife-beater got off as a result of lousy police work. The greater outrage is that ordinary people who live beyond the national spotlight - domestic violence victims, for instance - may soon lose access to the courts as Congress slashes legal aid to the poor.

Instead of denouncing the courts, Americans ought to strengthen them. We ought to demand courts remain accessible to all, including the luckless masses who have no chance of hiring Johnnie Cochran but deserve a day in court, a fair hearing, the presumption of innocence and, yes, the assistance of counsel, just as much as Simpson did.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board