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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   35661 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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We're splitting hairs at this point, but the fact remains that the US criminal justice system has an established process and standard to decide when people are victims, and the system concluded in this case that Rittenhouse was the victim and these other individuals were not, because that conclusion (to within the standard burden of proof) was required for the outcome that obtained.

No, the fact remains that the a finding that Rittenhouse was the victim and the others were not was NOT required for the outcome. That is literally what it means to say that the state had the burden of proving that he was not acting in self-defense.

Edit: That is why an acquittal on self-defense grounds does not prevent a subsequent civil case against the defendant:

When the first suit is a criminal prosecution resulting in an acquittal, the courts almost unanimously hold that there should be no preclusive effect given the acquittal in a subsequent civil action. A recent case, which arose in Maryland, will serve to illustrate the application of this rule. In United States v. Burns, the government brought an interpleader action to determine the distribution of the proceeds of a National Service Life Insurance policy. The widow of the insured had been acquitted of the murder of her husband on the theory of self-defense. In the interpleader action it was held that the acquittal was not preclusive, and the theory of self-defense which was accepted in the first suit was rejected. Despite the acquittal, the court found that the wife murdered her husband and was not entitled to the insurance proceeds. [ΒΆ] Although this result seems unduly harsh and illogical at first glance, there is a valid explanation which justifies it. In criminal actions the burden of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt," while in civil actions the burden is proof by "a preponderance of the evidence." Therefore, an acquittal in the former action serves to show only that the government did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. This does not mean that the more lenient civil burden of preponderance of the evidence could not have been satisfied. Therefore, a party in a subsequent civil action should not be precluded from attempting to prove an issue by a preponderance of evidence merely because the government did not support the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

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