Michael Jackson Acquitted

News of the day....Michael Jackson cleared of all charges.

Is he guilty or innocent? In our country today it doesn't really matter. It is a sad state of our society when regardless of whether you are guilty or innocent the real issue is do you have enough money to BE innocent??? Before the trial even began, I knew he would be acquitted. Why? Because he had enough money to pay the top lawyers, to waste on professional court testifiers, to pay all the "fees" that are required in a trial.

Is the fact that trials and courts are all about the costs and "fees" (i will never say bribes as that doesn't cover the whole gamut) something new? No, it has been around for quite a while, it is only lately that the news has shown it as more prevalent with the more celebrity cases that have come to light. The issue is the common man does not have the liquid income to "guarantee" their innocence. It is not innocent until proven guilty anymore, it is guilty unless you have the monetary funds to PROVE your innocence.

There is a case of a trial where a young 2 - 3 year old girl was going to be put on the witness stand as she had been put to bed by the accused and had been the last to see and speak with the person before the criminal act was committed. The mother was told 30 years ago that for $500 (remember that avg pay back then was a lot less than now) the prosecuting and defending lawyers would keep the child off the witness stand. What is a mother supposed to do? To protect her child she payed the money to the lawyer even though the mother was not part of the trial except as a potential witness. This is a true story and shows that the "fee" system has always been around.

What if the mother could not have paid the "fee"? The child in question would have been terrified, traumitized and very likely needed professional assistance to get past what the courts and lawyers do to people in a trial. Was it the correct thing to do? No one can decide that at the time and when you are pressured to protect your children.

In the Michael Jackson case, it doesn't matter if he is guilty or innocent. Our courts need to be fixed and parents need to take responsibility for their kids. Do I in my personal opinion believe he did it. Yes, I do.....but at the same time the parents are just as much at fault. They SOLD their kids to him for the immediate gratification of the gifts and trips and for the possible payoff by suing him in the future. The parents did not protect their children and as such are much more responsible for the unpardonable acts that happened.

Soap box done for today