Jeff (and all),
It seems that you feel that you were attacked because you suggested that
"Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty," in response to a message from the
OBA board which you felt amounted to an unjust presumption of guilt for the
accused individual.
I've seen you repeat this narrative several times now, in different forums. I
suspect you believe it to be true yourself, and this is partly why you're
feeling mistreated.
However, this doesn't hold up to a rational examination of the facts, which
anyone can read for themselves in the OBOL archives. Here are some remarks on
the facts that I previously posted to a sidebar list that I believe you were a
part of:
--
(1) The original statement from the OBA board did not name any individuals or
specific cases, nor did it indicate any presumption of guilt. The word
"alleged" in various forms appears several times.
(2) When Sarah Swanson followed up with her own clarification, she made it
clear that she was speaking for herself, not for the board. Her clarification
may have been prompted in part by a question that I addressed to her privately
(not via OBOL), wondering if this statement was in response to some particular
incidents here in Oregon, as I hadn't heard of any such incidents myself.
(3) Reading Sarah Swanson's personal clarification again, I see no implication
of a presumption of guilt in the particular cases that she mentioned. Again,
she carefully used the word "alleged." Her last sentence (if one reads it
carefully) was clearly aimed at the broader issue of sexual harassment and
assault in our society, not at those specific cases. Hopefully no one here
would deny that there is a widespread problem of violence against women in our
society, and this is something that affects the ability of women to participate
in outdoor activities as well as in male-dominated social groups.
(4) Jeff's posting in response to Sarah Swanson's started with a remark about
the Go Fund Me campaign that was started on behalf of the alleged victim, Aisha
White, followed by a long paragraph suggesting that this was an unusual way to
seek legal representation in such a case, rather than finding an attorney
willing to take the case as a civil lawsuit on a contingency basis. The line,
"Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty" only appears in the second-to-last
line.
--
As I concluded, a reasonable person reading that posting, given the lead
sentence and the focus of most of the text, could easily get the impression
that your main purpose was to cast doubt on the reliability of the alleged
victim. Whether that was your intention or not, it was easy to see why many
OBOL readers reacted that way.
From my own perspective, this was what I found most troubling about your
initial posting. Presumption of innocence is of course a bedrock foundation of
our legal system, and I would hope most people would see that as
non-controversial. Speculation about a victim's motives for making allegations,
and bringing up unrelated cases where you believe someone was falsely accused,
is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.
You may well see this as an Atticus Finch type of situation, where you felt an
obligation to speak on the behalf of the accused man. There's something to be
said for that, but it could have been said in that single sentence, "Everyone
is innocent unless proven guilty," without the preamble about the alleged
victim's Go-Fund-Me account etc.
All the best,
Joel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Gilligan" <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "boo" <boo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2021 11:22:41 AM
Subject: [boo] Re: Wow!!
Right. It is nice to have a site where birds can be discussed, and ... has no
trouble accusing a not arrested or charged person (in Georgia) with crimes of
moral turpitude....
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