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DAVIS: Ted Stevens: An innocent man

By Lanny Davis | Monday, August 18, 2008

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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Just the headline of this piece alone, I'll bet, shocks a number of people.

Most people assume, or have concluded, that Sen. Ted Stevens is guilty. After all, didn't a D.C. grand jury indict Mr. Stevens on seven felony counts? Haven't the U.S. government and its federal prosecutors concluded that Mr. Stevens failed to disclose taking more than $250,000 worth of gifts on his Senate financial-disclosure forms?

Of course the media hype and Page One, above-the-fold headlines about these charges lead to the public impression that Sen. Stevens must be guilty of ... well ... something.

But just suppose all these media stories began with the following paragraph:

"Sen. Ted Stevens, who must be presumed to be an innocent man until he is proven guilty by the U.S. government beyond a reasonable doubt, today was indicted on charges of filing false statements in Senate financial-disclosure forms. As is normal, the grand jury voted the indictment based on one-sided evidence presented by prosecutors, without Sen. Stevens or his attorneys having an opportunity to be present, to cross-examine witnesses, or to present contrary evidence that could have created a reasonable doubt regarding his guilt."

Most media people and government prosecutors would probably say such a lead would be naive and ridiculous. What they couldn't say is that a single word of the above paragraph is untrue.

Actually, the "presumption of innocence" appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. In 1895, the U.S. Supreme Court in Coffin v. U.S. held that such a presumption must be inferred from the 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments and guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt. (Ironically, the very same conservative "strict constructionists" who insist that Roe v. Wade should be overturned because the right to privacy appears nowhere in the Constitution do not challenge inferring the "presumption of innocence" as a fundamental constitutional right.)

Here are a few examples to remember, in case anyone forgets the importance of this presumption:

• Remember the three Duke lacrosse team players indicted on rape charges in the spring of 2006 by Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong? There was Nancy Grace on CNN proclaiming guilt before trial when she said, "I'm so glad they didn't miss a lacrosse game over a little thing like gang rape."