Monday, February 07, 2011
Presumed Innocent
Two things become eminently clear in reading this book. When it comes to law and order there are many shades of grey but things are rarely black and white. Justice is what can be proved in a court of law, the truth barely matters.
As if having a prominent prosecuting attorney accused of committing the very crime he has been investigating, arraigned and brought to trial wasn’t enough; we are then led through the defence preparation and the court proceedings by the accused. As onlookers in this process we are kept in the dark the majority of the time. In explaining the intricacies of the court procedures we are denied knowledge of the most important details of the case itself, the accused denying us the essential truth of his innocence or guilt.
I don’t usually go for best sellers so I missed this book when it was published back in 1986 and missed the movie starring Harrison Ford. Guess I’ll have to search it out somewhere in a remaindered bin.
As if having a prominent prosecuting attorney accused of committing the very crime he has been investigating, arraigned and brought to trial wasn’t enough; we are then led through the defence preparation and the court proceedings by the accused. As onlookers in this process we are kept in the dark the majority of the time. In explaining the intricacies of the court procedures we are denied knowledge of the most important details of the case itself, the accused denying us the essential truth of his innocence or guilt.
I don’t usually go for best sellers so I missed this book when it was published back in 1986 and missed the movie starring Harrison Ford. Guess I’ll have to search it out somewhere in a remaindered bin.
