A horrible, terrible, bloody, unforgivable crime for which life imprisonment and/or the death penalty applies. Now you know you didn’t commit this crime, and maybe one or two of your loved ones believe you, but random circumstance has conspired against you such that you don’t have a reliable alibi. There’s no physical evidence, but a number of circumstantial factors also point to the possiblity of you being involved.
Knowing this, sitting in your home, do you wait for the police to arrive and arrest you, believing the court system will show the truth?
Or do you pack your bags, grab your cat, and hightail it to sunny Mexico?
Well, the first thing I’d do is talk to an agent: as everyone knows from watching The Fugitive, The A-Team and The Incredible Hulk, being “wanted for a crime (you) didn’t commit” is a clear path to a schlocky TV show.
Let’s say you’ve already got a lawyer, that’s how you know the arrest is coming. Your lawyer suggests turning yourself in.
My first reaction thinking about this was the same as Otto. But at the point where I’m getting strapped down for the needle, I imagine I’d deeply regret not at least trying to get away.
You know, I think I would rather face a needle, than to face some gun happy law enforcement officer that doesn’t kill me with the first, second or third shot. My luck the guy would blow out my kneecap, nick a lung or some other vital organ and I wouldn’t die right away, just slowly bleed to death.
There have been plenty of people incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit. If it was looking bleak, circumstantial evidence-wise, I think I’d hit the road. Unless you’re OJ, you’re going to end up in the slammer. And if they catch you, fleeing won’t necessarily lock the cell door on you any more than all the circumstantial evidence.
I’d trust justice. I’d hire a damn good lawyer (right after divorcing my husband so eh wouldn’t go broke, completely, and could care for our child), too.
Since I didn’t commit the crime, and I haven’t done anything ‘suspicious’ afterwards (looking for the deceased on a golf course, aquiring fake IDs, etc) I think there’s enough justice in the world to spare me some.
I don’t know about the losing face part, but I don’t think I’d survive a long stint in the big house, either. Suicide would definitely be in my list of options.
Suicide would bother me just because everyone would assume I killed myself because I was guilty.
I guess they’d think the same way if I took off for Mexico, too; but at least in that situation I’d be sipping frosty margaritas while they thought bad things about me, rather than rotting in the ground.
Does the local news spend the first 10 minutes of every broadcast sensationalizing every minute development of the investigation?
Am I a celebrity that has local prosecutors salivating and licking their chops at the prospect of what my conviction can do for their political careers?
Is the real perpetrator liable to be a rich and powerful person who can buy the prosecutors, judge and jury?
Is the victim’s family rich and powerful enough to sue me for wrongful death and win even if I’m acquitted?
Am I liable to be prosecuted for exercising my rights under the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments even if the judge throws out the original charges?
Is the crime I’m accused of being lumped under the new 4th-amendment neutralizing category “terrorism?”
Is the Ashcroft Justice Department likely to use my case as a distraction from bad press they’ve been receiving recently?
In this day and age of media sensationalism, gloryhound prosecutors, and corrupt federal officials, the jungles of Southeast Asia start looking pretty good if any of the above questions can be answered ‘yes.’
Yeah, too lazy to look for a cite right now, but I think race trumps wealth in the stats. All depends on my race, my wealth, and my gender. (OJ is an aberration: black men, guilty or innocent, usually go down. For every guilty black man that got off, there are 100 innocent black men that were convicted.) Anyway, if I’m a white woman, I’ll stick around. If I’m a black man, I’m outta here. If I’m a black man with money, I MIGHT think about staying. If I’m a white man without money, depends. If I’m a white man with money, I’m definitely staying.
Completely realistic cynicism aside, or maybe not aside, I believe wholeheartedly in the beauty and righteousness of our Constitution, but I believe our system of criminal “justice” leaves somewhat to be desired…
It depends on the specifics of the indictment. If the state’s going straight for the jugular, all or nothing, I’d stay. If they’ve got a laundry list of charges in case the jury doesn’t buy the top billing? My purty mouth is going to be drinking margaritas.