A bold new legal strategy
Lawyers for Lewis "Scooter" Libby intend to use a "memory expert" to prove Libby is innocent of the charge he lied about his role in the outing of celebrity super-spy Valerie Plame.
When I first read this I was pleased. I have also been cursed with a sieve-like memory and would be in big trouble if I was ever hauled in front of multiple grand juries and made to repeat the same complicated story over and over.
If Libby's memory expert could establish a legal precedent concerning the limitations some otherwise flawless and non-traumatized human brains have in recalling past events not only would my own likelihood of ever being convicted of perjury diminish, but I imagine I would be able paraphrase this ruling with a new sense of authority in my personal dealings.
Unfortunately, when I read the article more carefully, I realized Libby's "memory expert" wasn't only going to argue against Libby's memory. Instead, Libby's defense intends on proving everyone involved in the case has a bad memory.
In other words, Scooter Libby has decided to pursue a line of defense that, if successful, would render most of our legal system impotent.
If not our entire social order useless.
The man is incorrigible.
1 comment:
We'll see if the memory "expert" is permitted to testify. There are filters for keeping "junk science" out of the courtroom, and also to prevent someone like Libby from dressing up common knowledge with science. After all, everyone knows that it's hard to remember things perfectly. The legal system has long acknowledged this, but it requires testimony based on personal knowledge to move forward.
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