Legal Verdict Quotes
This is a very important and fundamental quotation. Jefferson, John Adams, John Jay and many other Founding Fathers told us that the jury of peers was the final arbiter of a court case. However, many modern judges and legislatures have tried to erode that principle. In most states judges instructs juries that they are the final arbiter of the facts but he/she is the final arbiter of the law and how it should be applied in the case. But the founders wanted the jury to be the final arbiters of the law as well as the facts as is illustrated here and in {640588} and {640589}. For a more modern concurring view, see {640590}
In 1976 Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet gave orders to assassinate a Chilian Dissident Orlando Letelier in Washington DC. He had been suspected but there was no evidence with which to bring him to trial in his lifetime, However, President Barak Obama ordered the secret file on the assassination declassified in 2016 — 40 years after the event.
He was concerned about trials of high profile corporate executives for white collar crimes. He defended the CEO of Worldcom which was forced into the largest bankruptcy in American history by fraud. His client was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail, longer than his life expectancy. Much of the motivation of the prosecution was to set an example, send a message, and show that white collar crime is taken seriously.
