The ultimate nightmare for any citizen is to be jailed for a crime that citizen did not commit. Forget taxes and the like, when the state holds you in jail for its own reasons, later found wrong, that is the ultimate failure of the system.
Such apparently happened to Baru Trump. Trump was arrested and spent over a year in jail awaiting murder charges under Solicitor David Pascoe. As things worked out, it was supposedly discovered that the weapon found on Trump was a weapon he bought from the man eventually charged with the crime Trump was held for.
Now, as Pascoe seeks the office of Attorney General, Trump is suing Pascoe in federal court, asking for damages for Trump’s time in jail. Regardless of how one feels about politics, the fact that a Solicitor let a man sit in jail for a crime that man did not commit should bother all of us.
The merits of the lawsuit will be argued in federal court. However, whether or not to elevate David Pascoe to Attorney General will rest with us, the voters. Frankly, to VUI, Pascoe’s stock went down dramatically. While we want a prosecutor in the Attorney General’s office who will go after criminals, we also want someone who will stand up for the rights of the accused as well and make sure that those wrongly accused have a quick day in court to clear their names.
The ultimate power of the state is arrest and incarceration. The lowest of us deserve their chance to be free of mistakes by the state’s bar. Any Solicitor who ignores that does not deserve a moment of consideration to be the state’s Attorney General. At best, Pascoe seemed inept in the Trump case. At worst, well, VUI will let you fill in the blanks.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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