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marinessI usually ignore our local newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, because it's just awful, but I needed to check the Events calendar for next weekend, and stumbled across this:
Orlando Sentinel details entire conversation and puts up video of murder suspect talking to his daughters.
Bit of background: James Robert Ward and his wife, Diane Ward, lived in an exceedingly wealthy community/house at the Isleworth Country Club. She was found shot to death in their home a week or so ago; Ward was quickly arrested and denied bail. His life is a documented major financial mess at the moment (his company focused on real estate, which is a documented financial mess for nearly everyone). Based on the media reports, I'll be the first to admit that things don't look good.
But.
"Innocent until proven guilty."
Those same media reports (and since this is the Orlando Sentinel, which has an almost admirable lack of attention to detail and accuracy, I'm skeptical) are also stating that the judge found that the arrest affidavit is thin on detail. The two facts we know are that his wife is dead and he is going through bankruptcy proceedings. Otherwise, we don't know. And given that no one has yet proven that the guy murdered his wife, and the guy isn't confessing, shouldn't he be allowed to have conversations with his daughters that won't be immediately broadcast to the general public, complete with speculation from the sheriff's office?
(And for that matter, it might be nice for the daughters as well, who have just lost their mother.)
To be clear: I am not arguing that this guy actually is innocent, or that he should be released on bail. (And since I'm getting my info from the Orlando Sentinel it's entirely possible that there's a lot of evidence against the guy - or exonerating the guy - that I'm entirely unaware of) I'm just saying that suspects should possibly continue to have a few rights of privacy that I'd be less willing to grant to proven criminals.
Orlando Sentinel details entire conversation and puts up video of murder suspect talking to his daughters.
Bit of background: James Robert Ward and his wife, Diane Ward, lived in an exceedingly wealthy community/house at the Isleworth Country Club. She was found shot to death in their home a week or so ago; Ward was quickly arrested and denied bail. His life is a documented major financial mess at the moment (his company focused on real estate, which is a documented financial mess for nearly everyone). Based on the media reports, I'll be the first to admit that things don't look good.
But.
"Innocent until proven guilty."
Those same media reports (and since this is the Orlando Sentinel, which has an almost admirable lack of attention to detail and accuracy, I'm skeptical) are also stating that the judge found that the arrest affidavit is thin on detail. The two facts we know are that his wife is dead and he is going through bankruptcy proceedings. Otherwise, we don't know. And given that no one has yet proven that the guy murdered his wife, and the guy isn't confessing, shouldn't he be allowed to have conversations with his daughters that won't be immediately broadcast to the general public, complete with speculation from the sheriff's office?
(And for that matter, it might be nice for the daughters as well, who have just lost their mother.)
To be clear: I am not arguing that this guy actually is innocent, or that he should be released on bail. (And since I'm getting my info from the Orlando Sentinel it's entirely possible that there's a lot of evidence against the guy - or exonerating the guy - that I'm entirely unaware of) I'm just saying that suspects should possibly continue to have a few rights of privacy that I'd be less willing to grant to proven criminals.