St. Maarten Private Eye

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe says (art. 6.2): "Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law". This convention has been adopted by treaty and is also binding in Saint Maarten.
Many judges in the court of public opinion apply the rule when friends are involved. We heard it a good bit when Marcel Loor, Derrick Holiday and Churchill Marsdin were arrested. It was inhumane and unjust to lock them up, according to some. What happened to the presumption of innocence, asked others. When the animals that attacked Ryan Smith and Tom Jefferson were arrested, nobody asked a thing.
Why is that?

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The examples show that the presumption of innocence has nothing to do with pre trial detention. Pre trial detention has its own justification. Guilty or not guilty is not one of them. That is something for the courtroom. And there we touch on the heart of the matter. The following explanation is simple but true. I took it from an article that was published on the web. I don’t know who wrote it but it makes a lot of sense to me.

“The presumption of innocence does not and should not exist outside a courtroom. Think about it. For to us presume someone innocent is for to us presume the authorities got it wrong whenever they arrest someone. I’m not willing to assume that unless I’m a juror. It’s a legal fiction that was designed for the courtroom. Since the authorities have the power to take away someone’s freedom, we force them to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and give the defendant the presumption of innocence. The deck is intentionally stacked against the government because they have that enormous power.

It makes a lot of sense. But it makes no sense outside of the courtroom, particularly for our purposes. Imagine an evening news piece where the reporter presumed the person innocent. John Doe was arrested today on charges of smuggling drugs, but since the presumption of innocence applies, we must assume the authorities got it wrong or we must presume it was sugar, not cocaine in his possession.
We’d lose all of our credibility if we spoke in that dishonest fashion. That does not mean we have to or should presume the person is guilty. But no journalist, talk show host, even citizen outside a courtroom should be obligated to presume the authorities are always wrong or lying all the time.

When the authorities make an arrest, they’re presuming the person guilty. Inside a courtroom, they’re going to have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and they may turn out to be dead wrong. But the rest of us can discuss the evidence and even have opinions about it without having any guilt about the presumption.”

And what does this mean for Holiday and Marsdin? Well, Holiday and Marsdin were not declared guilty of anything when they were arrested; But it is not that they are innocent because they were released. Guilty or innocent. That still remains to be seen in a court of law. I must say though that the chips are against them.

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