A Gutless Lynch Mob

by Thomas Sowell - April 17th, 2007 - Townhall.com

Just before the Attorney General of North Carolina appeared on television to announce his decision on the Duke University "rape" case, one of the many expert TV legal commentators said that Attorney General Roy Cooper would probably use the words "insufficient evidence" but not the word "innocent" in dismissing the case.

The explanation for everyone thinking that Cooper would not say "innocent" is simple. Under our corrupt and insane rules Cooper represented the State of North Carolina. Cooper therefore had a legal obligation to make sure that Nifong did not do what he did, and also a legal obligation to not ever say the boys were innocent as that meant they had failed to protect them from Nifong. As the legal representative for the State of North Carolina, by the rules, Cooper was not supposed to care about justice for the three defendants, he was supposed to protect North Carolina from their lawsuit. Declaring that the defendants were innocent was a violation of his obligation to the State.

I guess this one time Cooper decided that what the public thought meant more than what our legal system thought about his actions. Maybe that is because he could see that the normal corruption of the justice system was alienating a large majority of the public. In this case the court system corruption and insanity was so blatantly obvious because the defendents could afford to make sure their case was heard by the public and the injustice was so clear.

Cooper took a courageous stand. However that should not be allowed to blind the public to the fact that what he did was so surprising because our court system is so corrupt.

The article by Thomas Sowell shows his usual ability to get to the heart of the matter. It is an excellent read and I highly recommend it. Click on the title above to read the entire article.

The only final comment on my part is about the role of judges in our court system. They are obligated to get the guilty off. However these boys were innocent so the judge did not care about them. Only defense attorneys care about the innocent and then only as long as they have money to pay the fees. The role of judges is just as in this case to keep the threat of prison hanging over the head of the defendants until they had paid a decent bribe to the system. Justice in this case cost $3 million. The system worked exactly as the judges and attorneys want except for Cooper having the audacity to say the word "innocent".

What if the three defendants had been poor? Well that is what prison is for. People who play the game of court better be guilty or rich. Only the guilty and rich get off.