![]() In our system, justice is in large measure defined by process: when a defendant receives the process he is due and the outcome of that process is conviction, that conviction is deserving of respect. ![]() It doesn’t matter how obviously guilty the defendant may be we do not have a two-part system of fundamental rights with differing application depending on whether or not we think the defendant is guilty. When the state accuses an individual of a criminal offense it is the state that bears the burden of proving guilt and ensuring the defendant is afforded due process. But such characterization debases the essence of the quotation cited above and contributes to a misunderstanding of the relationship between state power, fundamental fairness, and criminal condemnation. The immediate story line is that an obviously guilty sexual predator has escaped criminal sanction based on a mere technicality. Last week’s news that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and barred any future retrial was for many stunning. This is especially true when a conviction for a serious offense is reversed not based on skepticism about the factual predicate for the jury’s verdict, but because no matter how guilty ‘on due inquiry’ the defendant may be, he was denied a necessary incident of a fair trial. When a criminal conviction is reversed because of a failure to afford such process, it is often a difficult outcome to understand. Alabama reflects a foundational pillar of our criminal justice system: that no matter how obvious a defendant’s guilt may be as a matter of fact, as a matter of law a criminal conviction is valid only if the defendant is afforded the process he is due. This quote from the Supreme Court’s 1932 opinion in Powell v. It was the duty of the court having their cases in charge to see that they were denied no necessary incident of a fair trial.” “However guilty defendants, upon due inquiry, might prove to have been, they were, until convicted, presumed to be innocent.
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