Please note there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty. The "presumed innocent until proven guilty" is for the purposes of the court of law. Of course someone could have committed an act, even if others can't prove it.
Secondly, note that in a court of law the judge or jury doesn't never says you're "innocent." If cleared of the charges, they find you "not guilty." The law is perfectly well aware the system can and does let free people who committed the crime.
Lastly, note that neither Adolf Hitler nor John Wilkes Booth were never found guilty in a court of law during their last times. Obviously we (or most) don't use this as proof that they were innocent of their alleged crimes. People have used information and facts and testimony beyond the walls of a courtroom to come to the learned judgments that they were guilty.
In short, as far as the truth goes, there is no such thing as 'innocent until proven guilty.' On ESPN and FoxSports chatboards, it's not only a lazy (but convenient) misquote of what they law says and means, but the phrase is nonsensical when read literally. Not only that, but 99.9 percent of people, including those ESPN chatboard posters defending Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, disagree with the literal interpretation of that phrase. The literal reading is on the order of saying "A woman isn't pregnant until the moment the doctor tells her she is pregnant. Thus, a woman who never sees a doctor can never be pregnant."
Last edited by drc; 07-14-2009 at 01:02 PM.
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