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June 21, 2005
So much for the Sixth Amendment
Well, it seems the ends justify the means and "due process" goes out the window in yet another "politically correct" miscarriage of justice and prosecutorial malfeasance. The judges seem to ignore the constitution in their mad haste to get their thumbprints into the wet cement of jurisprudence. The Sixth Amendment was added to the bill of rights to correct a problem with long delays between the crime and the trial. Namely, deterioration of evidence, witness tampering, selective recall, etc. But now, in a the new McArthyism era of political correctness, the constitution is shredded in a fervent attempt to try people for murders that occurred over 40 years ago. Putting an 80 year old man in a wheelchair in prison for the rest of his life for a crime he allegedly committed over 40 years ago is a grotesque miscarriage of justice. An extralegal theatre of the absurd.
I have no idea if this guy is guilty or not. I really don't care. It doesn't enter into it. If we have laws, we should follow them, or we should change them. So, the question I have is, should we repeal the Sixth Amendment, or is that an unnecessary formality? Maybe we should just ignore it like we ignore all of our rights when we go to the airport.
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Posted by Peenie Wallie on June 21, 2005 at 12:01 PM
Comments
FYI:
Sixth Amendment - Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecutions
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Posted by: Robert on June 21, 2005 at 03:08 PM
Yeah, well, as the article says "41 years to the day" after the slayings, he was found guilty. How could you possibly hope to have a fair trial after 41 years? This was just political grandstanding by Mississippi, trying to expunge their racist past by convicting all of these old men for crimes they allegedly committed a half a century ago. It's an absurd travesty of justice. Judging by their indifference to the constitutional freedoms we were guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, they should declare martial law and burn the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in a dumpster on the lawn of the Whitehouse.
Posted by: Peenie Wallie on June 21, 2005 at 04:22 PM