Lisa said: You make a very good point. I'm sorry you can't breathe. Hopefully things in the air will clear up soon, just in time for the summer smog. PS-So how is that desk looking? Still neat as a pin? Date: Karen Funk Blocher said: In my business law class in 2004, the instructor asked how many thought Kobe Bryant was guilty. I think about half the class raised their hands. (I wasn't one of them.) She proceeded to say that he wasn't guilty, because he had not been found guilty. I think that's probably a bit specious, because a private, unpublished opinion by a non-juror is not the same thing as publishing prejudicial material. The informal poll in a law class was not going to have any effect on the defendant's chances in court. It did, however, provide evidence that the media can and does have an impact on public opinion - which might well affect potential jurors. Hence the need for the media to be careful in applying the "presumption of innocence" to news stories. On the other hand, I remember that the supermarket tabloids had headlines declaring someone the murderer of Becky Ramsay, or whatever her name was - and then accusing someone else the following week! Date: Lisa said: You make a very good point. I'm sorry you can't breathe. Hopefully things in the air will clear up soon, just in time for the summer smog. PS-So how is that desk looking? Still neat as a pin? Date: Karen Funk Blocher said: In my business law class in 2004, the instructor asked how many thought Kobe Bryant was guilty. I think about half the class raised their hands. (I wasn't one of them.) She proceeded to say that he wasn't guilty, because he had not been found guilty. I think that's probably a bit specious, because a private, unpublished opinion by a non-juror is not the same thing as publishing prejudicial material. The informal poll in a law class was not going to have any effect on the defendant's chances in court. It did, however, provide evidence that the media can and does have an impact on public opinion - which might well affect potential jurors. Hence the need for the media to be careful in applying the "presumption of innocence" to news stories. On the other hand, I remember that the supermarket tabloids had headlines declaring someone the murderer of Becky Ramsay, or whatever her name was - and then accusing someone else the following week! Date:

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