Text 11771, 35 rader
Skriven 2005-04-18 21:31:54 av EARL CROASMUN (1:275/311)
     Kommentar till en text av ED CONNELL
Ärende: Re: Bo Gritz
====================
-> You are not responding to my point that testimony traditionally has been 
-> about the illegal actions of another, not an attempt to show what he was 
-> thinking.

Witnesses cannot normally testify to what anyone is thinking, as I said
earlier.  They can testify to what they witnessed.  In situations where
what was SAID at a given time or place is relevant, of course witnesses
can testify to that.  Threats, promises, agreements, vows, invitations,
consents, warnings, there are all sorts of utterances that have a power
of their own.  I already gave the example of an illegal death threat.
How about a police officer who shoots someone dead?  If there are three
witnesses who heard him yell several times, "drop your gun or I will
shoot you," with no response, it is probably going to look like a
justified shooting.  Mike Tyson would have probably gotten acquitted of
rape if he had three witnesses who heard the woman say to him, let's go
up to my room and have sex."  If, right before your death, you tell
three witnesses, "my will says the house goes to X, but I've changed my
mind and now I want it to go to Y," there is a good chance that the
statement will override your written will (depending on the state and
whether you are determined to still be rational at the time).  I could
come up with a dozen more examples, bu you get the idea.

[A few years ago there was a story going around about some liberal arts
college that was experimenting with WRITTEN consent forms for sexual
situations, to try to avoid people accusing others of inappropriate
non-consentual actions.  Hopefully it was just satire of political
correctness run amok.]

In the Schiavo case, the state law allowed for people to refuse medical
care, based on written or spoken directives.  If a court didn't allow
testimony as to someone's spoken medical directives, they would be
acting in opposition to the law.

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