Tony: It’s Your Civic Duty to Raise Doubts About the Waldo Rapist Case

Like it or not, The U.S. Court System is based on the presumption of innocence.

In fact, according the the world’s most accurate encyclopedia: "Although the Constitution of the United States does not cite it explicitly, presumption of innocence is widely held to follow from the 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments."

Sadly, the "perp walk" and impressive press conferneces featuring police and prosecutors are always part of a local govenrment effort to convict people in the media.

Recently, new charges in the Waldo attacks raised more questions than they answered.

And let’s be forthright, this case is about nothing more than racial politics that even very responsible public officials are forced to play. For instance, at a Jackson County press conference the effort to prosecute Bernard Jackson for old and a few new Waldo rapes was compared to the same effort to find a murdered young girl known as "Precious Doe."  For the very slow, this comparison wasn’t an accident.

In any event, because "innocent until proven guilty" is as American as apple pie or at least Camel Apple Empanada at Taco Bell. There are more than a few questions that are still open regarding this case and haven’t been answered by authorities despite their impressive effort to win the media battle in this case.

1. There’s a persistent rumor out there that police made Bernard Jackson shave before his mugshot. The implication is that they wanted a better match for the photo but so far the real explanation from authorities has not been put on blast.

2. He just doesn’t look like the mugshot. They were looking for a younger guy.

3. When it comes to height and weight he doesn’t match the description. The suspect was described as taller, darker and heavier.  They were looking for a guy that weighed 250 to 300lbs and Taylor tops out at around 180.

4. Reporters at the press conference grilled prosecutors regarding the fact that it took more than a year to bring these charges. This instance alone could get charges thrown out because Taylor’s right to a speedy trial by a decent lawyer. But the fact is that Taylor was found guilty on other sex related crimes so nobody is going to go to bat for him.

5. DNA evidence isn’t fool proof. Again, this guy isn’t going to bring back Johnny Cochran from the dead but more than one instance of DNA being discounted or found to be unreliable exists. Those quotes about reliability of DNA results by odds in the billions are nothing more than propaganda. Still, Jackson doesn’t have the resources to put up much of a fight.

In the final analysis, authorities openly admit they don’t have enough evidence to the charges for the rest of the recent Waldo rapes. What’s most troubling about this case though is that the Jackson County prosecutor and the police are being meticulous and thoughtful in their prosecution while so many media watchers are willing to convict on sight, make inaccurate racial generalizations and ignore the guy’s right to a trial. Sadly, the only thing the press conference proved today is that due process is nothing more than a myth for the couch potato public who doesn’t care about anybody’s rights or freedom but their own