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Hale wrote: "for it is better five guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should die." Fortescue's De Laudibus Legum Angliae (c. 1470) states that "one would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape the punishment of death, than that one innocent person should be condemned and suffer capitally." [7]
The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty.Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must present compelling evidence to the trier of fact (a judge or a jury).
Over time, juries have tended to favour the "not guilty" verdict over "not proven" and so the interpretation has changed. The "not guilty" verdict has become the normal verdict when a jury is convinced of innocence, and the "not proven" verdict is used only if the jury is not certain of innocence or guilt. [citation needed]
The Alford guilty plea is "a plea of guilty containing a protestation of innocence". [8] The defendant pleads guilty, but does not have to specifically admit to the guilt itself. [24] The defendant maintains a claim of innocence, but agrees to the entry of a conviction in the charged crime. [25]
Nowadays, juries can return a verdict of either "not guilty" or "not proven", with the same legal effect of acquittal. [6] Although historically it may be a similar verdict to not guilty, in the present day not proven is typically used by a jury when there is a belief that the defendant is guilty but The Crown has not provided sufficient ...
A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for kidnapping, robbery and rape has been declared innocent and freed, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Tuesday. DNA testing helped exonerate ...
"One of the reasons we pushed for a speedy trial was to ensure the public would see that our society does not condone shooting an unarmed, innocent child simply for ringing the wrong doorbell ...
Whether the mens rea is intent or wilfulness, or only negligence or recklessness, does not affect the incidence of guilt, but may well raise the question of degree of guilt. On the other hand, "guilt" is the result of a verdict to the effect that the accused is criminally responsible ("finding of guilty"), and it is in this sense that the ...