Quote:
Originally Posted by tcar
You sound like you have some legal experience... so you should know that that no one is 'declared innocent'... there is no such thing in law (at least in the US).
You probably mean "Not Guilty", the correct declaration, which is a lot different than 'innocent'.
'Not Guilty' means only that 'Guilty' was not proven. It does not mean that she was necessarily 'innocent'.
An important legal point.
|
Yes, it is an important point that I am well aware of. However, I was speaking of the Italian courts, and they indeed declared her "factually innocent" (actually, the judges wrote there was
a "material non-existence" of evidence to support the guilty verdicts. No facts to support the verdict of guilty so, factually innocent) which
is different than acquittal. I am aware of the differences in the terms and I equated the two in an attempt to simplify things for the sake of another poster.
And factual innocence does exist in U.S. law. Google Michael Morton. “The record contains evidence that a public official may have committed serious misconduct, and that this misconduct may have contributed to the wrongful conviction and lengthy incarceration of … Michael Morton, now
known to be factually innocent,” This was the opinion written by the Bexar County
state district Judge Sid Harle, who presided over Morton’s exoneration.