Fri, 04 Nov 2005

Jury to Weigh Contrary Portrayals of Blake

Lawsuits like this one just annoy me to no end. It's the same problem I have with the OJ Simpson morass. Think what you will about Robert Blake or OJ - both were accused of murder, and both men were acquitted of the crime by a duly constituted jury. That means not guilty.

In colonial America it was relatively common for the Crown to continually prosecute for the same alleged crime, "jury shopping" in effect, until they found a panel that gave them the conviction they wanted. In response, the Framers made sure that the Constitution of the United States explicitly forbade the State to charge a criminal dependent twice for the same crime. This is the so called "double jeopardy" clause written into the Bill of Rights (part of the Fifth Amendment). The State of California cannot legally file new murder charges in the same case against these fellows. Yet clever lawyers have figured out how to end run the system.

In both cases the gold digging families of the victims and their lawyers chose to make a play for some easy money by filing civil lawsuits against them, seeking damages for the "wrongful death" of the victim at the hands of the accused. This is not just substantially the same case brought by the State against the defendants, it is exactly the same case, except that in civil actions the burden of proof is much, much lower, and it's not the State prosecuting the lawsuit. Which is why the Brown family prevailed against OJ and literally drove him to bankruptcy (and petty crime).

Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. But this is so blatantly abusive of the spirit of the Constitution, if not it's letter (which, incidentially, doesn't mention State prosecution in the Fifth - it merely says that "nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb"), that I absolutely believe that such suits should be automatically dismissed by any court in which they are filed on Constitutional grounds.

AP - An attorney for Bonny Lee Bakley's family says Robert Blake was bent on getting rid of his wife at any cost. Defense lawyers say the actor wanted to stay married to Bakley and raise his daughter in a stable environment.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

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