shocked<\/em>. \u00a0I had so confidently expected their enthusiastic endorsement!<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyhow, one of the angles of response particularly amused me, so I offer here a brief repurposing of its fundamental argument, in story form:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Laying out the State\u2019s case against Mr. Robert Jones on charges of capital homicide, prosecutor Richard Anderson called eleven eyewitnesses, of solid reputation, undisputed sanity, and good character, who all testified under oath that they clearly saw the defendant, Mr. Jones, pump six revolver rounds into Mr. Chauncey Gardner while Mr. Gardner lay on the ground pleading for his life. \u00a0They all also reporting hearing the defendant screaming \u201cDie, Chauncey! \u00a0Die!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the jury returned a verdict of \u201cNot guilty,\u201d however, jurors explained to those who questioned them, first of all, that eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable, and, secondly, that it was this particular paragraph from the closing statement of criminal defense attorney William Russell that convinced them to acquit Robert Jones:<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps one should not expect that the prosecutor\u2019s case would be anything other than an attempt to strengthen the jury\u2019s faith in the guilt of the defendant. \u00a0The prosecutor\u2019s argument will be convincing to those already certain that my client killed Mr. Gardner and that the State\u2019s eleven witnesses saw him do it. And even detached observers will probably be convinced by the State\u2019s contention that the witnesses were honest men and women who sincerely believe what they said and who have probably stuck consistently by their story. \u00a0But Anderson is really trying to have us conclude more than this. \u00a0He would have the jurors be convinced that, because these witnesses are honest and because they reaffirmed their testimony when asked to do so, they actually saw and heard my client in the supposed act of murdering Chauncey Gardner. \u00a0I believe that Anderson \u2014 like his eleven witnesses \u2014 is an honest and sincere man when he declares: \u2018Reason dictates that their testimonies, given under oath here before you, must be taken at face value.\u2019 \u00a0But I don\u2019t believe that his argument by itself requires this conclusion. \u00a0After all, spiritual truths such as \u2018guilt\u2019 and \u2018innocence\u2019 must be spiritually verified.\u2019 \u00a0Believers \u2014 and, for that matter, witnesses \u2014 must make a \u2018leap of faith,\u2019 apprehending with their \u2018spiritual eyes\u2019 rather than with their \u2018natural eyes.'\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked, after his release from jail, what he intended to do now, Mr. Jones, the former defendant, indicated that he was going to Disneyland. \u00a0It was, he said, Chauncey Gardner\u2019s dying wish for him.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 For some reason, my little post on \u201cRunning with the golden plates\u201d has inflamed a certain tiny sector of the web that I like to watch, and they\u2019ve been pulling out the big guns (e.g., even the eminent American philosopher and historian Mark Twain; who ever saw that coming?) to demolish the testimony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,5691,873,975,114,380,55,2160,5688,921],"class_list":["post-80136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-eight-witnesses","tag-film","tag-interpreter","tag-interpreter-foundation","tag-joseph-smith","tag-mormonism","tag-movie","tag-three-witnesses","tag-witnesses"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"James](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/11\/72387520_679721585862134_6166066787730325504_o.jpg\")
<\/a>