Night Of Death!

I have been annoyed, bemused, and ultimately disappointed by the apparent reality and the overly eager media coverage of the most recently completed infamous show trial. The transformation of jurispruence into entertainment is unfortunate as it undermines the legitimacy of the most important endeavor. The justice system is demeaned and diminished, its core significance to the fabric of society reduced to sophistry.

The result of this trial was not all that surprising given the specific and peculiar nature of the laws which governed the actions of the defendant. Not unlike the recent revelations about the Federal Government's efforts to catalog phone and computer records for most every citizen in perpetuity, the actual scandal is that the behavior under scrutiny is deemed lawful, morality be damned.

That a man can bring a lethal weapon to a fight, use the weapon fatally on another unarmed citizen who was beforehand minding his own perfectly legitimate business, and then claim self defense is a bizarre proposition on its face and should cause all citizens to stop short. Once the "other party" has been disposed of, the resultant story only has one side and the law then only requires us to "know" what was going on in the mind of the killer.

This event should cause everyone to pause and reflect on what it truly means for each and every citizen to possess "domestic tranquility".

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