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368. "I have not been convicted"

By Joel Jacobsen

Senator Ted Stevens declared yesterday in a debate that "I have not been convicted.”  And never mind that he was convicted of seven felonies. I can think of two explanations for his logic: he's clinically insane; or, he's so confident his convictions will be reversed on appeal that he considers them as good as reversed already.  Or, I suppose, both. Assuming the second explanation, his confidence is well-placed, I think.  Our appellate courts are extremely reluctant to uphold the conviction of anybody who's demographically like the average judge: white, male, middle-aged or older, and part of the governing class. If I remember right, Oliver North said during his Virginia senatorial campaign that he hadn't been convicted, since a federal appeals court had reversed his conviction (on grounds that have, ever since, handicapped mob and gang prosecutions around the country)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Judging Crimes on October 31, 2008 (boomark / email).