Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Approximately 50 prisoners, most of them murderers and rapists, have been released in Maryland. It's possible that another 200 will follow them.

The reason is that Maryland's highest court decided that prior to 1980, judges didn't do a good enough job explaining the principle of innocent until proven guilty to the jury. These criminals could be granted new trials, but prosecutors are in a bind. These cases are more than 30 years old. Witnesses have died or can't be located. Who knows the status of the physical evidence in the trials. So my guess is that these convicts will not, for the most part, be retried.

It's only a matter of time, however, before they'll re-offend and end up back in jail. And this time, I hope the judge takes all day to explain innocent until proven guilty.

"Murderers going free in flawed pre-1980 cases." The Dallas Morning News; November 28, 2013; p. 4A.