Guilty as sin! Why bother with a trial?

I asked this question to some co-workers the other day, involving an upcoming murder trial:

If you were on the jury right now and had to decide 'guilty' or 'not guilty' after hearing the opening arguments ONLY... how would you vote?

The over-whelming response: GUILTY.

Look, we all KNOW the guy did it! And we all know that the defense attorney is out to accomplish one thing: Keep the guy from getting 'the big stick.' It's a win for them if their client gets life in prison.

The accused is guilty! AS SIN! He knows it, the judge knows it, the prosecutor knows it, the jury will know it, my co-workers know it... and I know it.

So why am I the only one to take the same hypothetical question and say I'd vote 'not guilty?'

'That's pretty crazy, especially if you KNOW the guy did it!' you might say. But not at all. In this country, something very important has to happen (or at least 'should' happen) in order for someone to be found guilty: The government (prosecution) must PROVE that the accused did what they are indeed accused of. The burden of proving guilt lies soley with the prosecution! If you can't be convinced by FACTS that the defendant is guilty, then you MUST vote NOT GUILTY.

Is it better for a guilty man to go free rather than have an innocent man go to prison?

Some would say no... but would be quick to change their mind if they were the innocent man looking at life in prison.

What's really ridiculous about illegal immigration...

Welcome to 2008.

To kick off the new year, a new law is now in effect in Arizona. Any business that is found to have knowingly hired an illegal worker is subject to punishment which can range from probation all the way to a 10-day suspension of their business license. A second violation will result in having their license revoked permanetly.

Apparently in addition to businesses running their day-to-day operations, they must now be in the business of verifying someone's legal residence in this country.

I was under the impression that job belonged soley to the federal government.

The problem with illegal immigration isn't the millions of people being here illegally. It's with the government having made something illegal and then lacking the gumption to enforce its own laws. Rather than actually catch those in the country illegally, the feds sit back and do nothing while politicians, always pandering for votes, debate over amnesty, guest worker programs and the like. The states then take it upon themselves to burden businesses with the task of verifying a person's legal residence. But it's not up to McDonald's, Lowe's or Pep Boys to do the federal government's work!

Laws needs to be enforced or they need to be taken off the books. Unenforced laws are useless and pointless.