J'accuse (Ooops)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn did or did not sexually assault a maid at the Sofitel in New York City.

That is, of course, true of everyone.  You, my readers, each of you individually or even as a gang, did or did not sexually assault a maid at the Sofitel in New York City.

Ah, but you weren't accused.  You weren't publicly vilified, forced out of your high prestige job, removed as a powerful and plausible candidate to become the next president of France.

You weren't locked up.  You weren't denied bail.  You weren't confined to house arrest.  You weren't forced to find new digs because the neighbors were horrified at the presence of someone

• so vile
• so horrid
• so dangerous
• so damned accused.

May 16, Artie McConnell, Assistant District Attorney, in open court.

The victim provided very powerful details consistent with violent sexual assault committed by the defendant, which establishes all the necessary elements of the crime he is charged with.
. . .
She made outcries to multiple witnesses immediately after the incident, both to hotel staff and law enforcement. She was then taken to the hospital and was given a full sexual assault forensic examination. The observations and findings during that exam corroborate her accounts.

May 19, Artie McConnell, Assistant District Attorney, in open court.

The victim was given a complete and expert forensic examination and the findings from that examination are consistent with her account. The Crime Scene Unit processed the hotel room and the scene, and while those scientific tests have not been completed, the preliminary indications are that forensic evidence that supports the victim’s version of events may be found.

Jim Dwyer, William K. Rashbaum, & John Eligon, today's New York Times

Although forensic tests found unambiguous evidence of a sexual encounter between Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a French politician, and the woman, prosecutors now do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself.
Since her initial allegation on May 14, the accuser has repeatedly lied, one of the law enforcement officials said.

And now?  Eligon, again, in the Times on line.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest on Friday as the sexual assault case against him moved one step closer to dismissal after prosecutors told a Manhattan judge that they had serious problems with the case.
Prosecutors acknowledged that there were significant credibility issues with the hotel housekeeper who accused Mr. Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in May. In a brief hearing at State Supreme Court in Manhattan, prosecutors did not oppose his release; the judge then freed Mr. Strauss-Kahn on his own recognizance.

So what happened in that hotel room?  I don't know.  You don't know.  Artie McConnell doesn't know and neither do the guys from the Times.

Here's what I know.

She claimed to be a victim and was, therefore, believed. Because victims never falsely accuse.  Which is generally true if you think about it - it's only people who aren't victims who falsely accuse.  And who are they?  Oh, they're people who claim to be victims but aren't.

They're the ones who ruin lives with a word, hiding behind the cloak of anonymity we choose to give anyone who claims to be a victim because we've made this determination as a society.

It's better that one guilty person be convicted than that 10 innocent ones be freed.

Wait.  Hang on a second.  Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?

Better that 10 guilty persons be freed than that one innocent person be convicted.

Bah, that's second grade civics.  That's law school.  That's Blackstone and hundreds of years of Anglo-American jurisprudence.  That's those guys with beards and robes who wandered through the desert for 40 years after the flood and then the followers of some crank who got crucified after running the money lenders out of the temple.  That's, my god save us, foreign law.

We will hear now that the system works.  That the prosecutors are carefully examining and evaluating and won't go forward unless they really believe he's guilty and can prove it.

But that's bullshit.  Because you can't give it back.  You can't undo the damage.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn did or did not sexually assault a maid at the Sofitel in New York City.

So what happened in that hotel room?  I don't know.  You don't know.  Artie McConnell doesn't know and neither do the guys from the Times.

It's not that it doesn't matter.  It's not that if Strauss-Kahn did those things of which he's accused he should walk free.  It's not about cutting breaks for rapists or other malefactors.

It's about a presumption of innocence.  It's about not blindly accepting whatever accusers say. It's about starting with doubt rather than (if you'll excuse the word, but it's exactly the right one) conviction.

Monday is July 4, Independence Day, when we celebrate the spirit of revolution as the fertilizer of the tree of liberty.  (Which is kind of a lousy metaphor, but what the hell.) It's the day when we look at the document which emphatically does not say

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. And that when someone is accused of bad stuff all the rest of that crap doesn't count. 

Jefferson knew better.