….this judicial system of ours. The Boston Marathon Bomber. He got tracked down, chased, cornered, shot in a police shootout where his brother died, arrested and put in jail. Basically, he was caught red-handed. He did it. Everyone knows he did it. He blew up all those people, killing 3 and injuring 260. He did it!
Now he goes to trial. What do we all do at trial? We pledge to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The defendant has to make a plea of Guilty or Not Guilty. What does he plead? Not Guilty. Not Guilty on all 30 counts. The entire process is begun with a lie, that everyone knows is a lie; but if the bomber wants to mount any sort of defense, he has to lie and plead Not Guilty.
I could offer more options; more truthful options than Guilty or Not Guilty; more credible options:
Like “Guilty, but insane.”
Or “Guilty, but I had to do it because…”
How about “I did it, but I’m sorry.”
“I did it, but I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
Or maybe “You can’t prove it.”
But we only have two options, Guilty or Not Guilty. If we plead Guilty it’s over. Our only defense starts with Not Guilty. We ask for the truth, but in our quest for the truth, we all agree to start with a lie.
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