Day on Torts
Well, we now we know what 12 people thought about the charges brought by the DA against the King of Pop. I did not follow the trial closely enough to offer an opinion about whether or not I agree with the jury, although I must say that the defense seemed to have a field day with the mother of the young man allegedly involved. (I did not follow the trial because the commentators drive me absolutely nuts. A few of them are rational, but I can never remember their names or what network they appear on and I do not want to watch one minute of coverage by the crazy commentators to see if a good one will show up.)
I have heard the DA say “you can’t pick your victims.” True. But, as DA, you can pick your cases. Every DA makes decisions every day about what crimes to prosecute. Not infrequently crimes aren’t prosecuted because the DA, after looking at all of evidence and the people who will be presenting it, determines that it would be difficult to convict.
Here is a nice story about Michael’s lead lawyer who, I am sure, is on Cloud 9 this morning.
So, what will happen with the civil suit? And what about the one pending in Louisana? In civil cases the burden of proof is less – preponderance of the evidence as opposed to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in a criminal case. Will we have an OJ-type result in California – a civil jury reaching a different result from the criminal jury?
Michael has won the first battle in what may be a long war.