Scandalous miscarriage of justice cries for pardon

This has reference to the commentary titled “Court decision goes against common sense” (Opinion, 2/9/15). While we salute the Supreme Court for evincing uncommon brilliance in many of its decisions, this one particularly sucks—or worse, smells like a dead rat! On account of that ill-thought-out decision, an innocent young man (in his 20s then) has been sentenced to suffer life imprisonment. He might as well be dead already!

We are not saying that the fratman concerned is in fact “innocent.” But under the Constitution, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty “beyond reasonable doubt.” Has his guilt been established “beyond reasonable doubt” in that case? Not by a long shot! We may not be experts in law, but we do have enough “common sense” to be able to tell basically right from wrong! “Reasonable doubt” is written all over the very scant evidence against him.

Jurisprudence instructs that “the testimony of a police officer as to what the victim told him not more than 30 minutes after the commission of the alleged crime is more convincing than the testimony of the same victim given much later on the witness stand,” i.e., after an opportunity to make up another story. If that is not commonsensical enough, then what is? But since the fratman concerned is a “nobody,” who cares if he rots and dies in jail, right?

We quote from John Donne: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” The next victim of such an unjust judgment could be you or one close to you! Would you then just chalk it all up to tough luck?

And if the Supreme Court can no longer undo what it has done—to right its own wrong—due to “technicalities of procedure,” then perhaps executive pardon should be seriously considered to wipe out that scandalous miscarriage of justice.

—RAMON NORMAN TORREFRANCA, [email protected]