Recently it was reported in the media that a man who is on trial in Kansas for murder, would be permitted to hide a tattoo that he has on his neck.  The tattoo spells MURDER backwards.  The concern was that if the jury saw this tattoo that they might be prejudiced against the defendant and believe that he might be a person who might be willing to commit murder.

We have had this problem in our courtroom as well.  Not too long ago, a defendant had tattooed across his forehead a four-letter word and a three-letter word commonly associated with a hand gesture.  The tattoos were in his eyebrow area and were plainly visible when he was booked into the jail. The issue of the tattoo did not come up at the trial because during the time the case was pending, his eyebrow hairs grew enough to hide what was plainly written there.

It seems to me that if a person values a concept so much or they want to make a statement so much that they are willing to permanently alter how they look to broadcast the statement, then the world they broadcast it to ought to be able to take them at their word and believe that they value it.  That is my belief, but that is not how the justice system works.

The evidence rules exist to try and make sure the defendant is put on trial only for the acts that he or she is accused of. Some things are carefully kept away from the jury’s awareness, for fear if the jury knew those things, they would be swayed in their judgment of the defendant. People in the courtroom who are present during pretrial matters, can learn things and be aware of some things that the jury is not allowed hear. In fact, if the jury becomes aware of some of the things that the court rules inadmissible, by accident or by mistake of one of the parties, then a mistrial can be called and the case will have to be heard again before a new jury.

Someone has said, “Its not a Justice System, its Just a System.”  I agree it is a system, but it is not “just a system.”  It is carefully designed to make as sure as possible that only truly guilty persons are punished. It is based on the idea that it is better for a guilty person to go free than an innocent person punished. The justice system is so concerned about making sure the defendant receives a fair trial, that it will try and protect a defendant even from himself. I agree the system is not perfect, and there are things that should be done to improve it, but it does a good job at finding out the facts and holding persons accountable who abuse and violate the rights of others.