The #MeToo Movement has thrown due process out the window

Letter here.

'In her recent letter to the Tribune (“A witch hunt”), writer Dorie Chaille Tiseth hit the nail on the head. I, too, have been shocked by the rapidity and fury with which the #MeToo movement has swirled across the country, upending lives and leaving us stunned.

Like that writer, I am in my 70s and a feminist, and as a woman, I have encountered and witnessed decades of sexual harassment. I am therefore not denying the premise that such conduct is insufferable and ought to be punished. However, as a retired public defender, I have seen more than my share of shaded motivations on both sides of sexual issues. I remember more than a few juries where criminal accusations by “girlfriends” against males were heard and defendants ultimately exonerated. Other juries have found defendants guilty. In any case, however, these juries heard testimony, saw evidence, evaluated arguments, and had the opportunity to figure out what the facts were before applying the law and coming to a verdict of guilt or innocence. That is called due process.

In contrast, in our current circus atmosphere of media coverage, there is no such thing as due process. Non-legal charges are broadcast against persons, often beyond a statute of limitations, with little, if any, discernible attempts to corroborate the charges before they are made public. Then rapidly these persons, usually male, are not only pronounced guilty by public opinion, but they are either quickly fired from their jobs or they resign into oblivion.

In other words, the concept of due process has been thrown out the window. Surely there is a better way to redress or prevent grievances of such magnitude and seriousness, is there not? That is the question many are now asking, and I hope it is not answered with the crumbling of the rule of law.

— Jeanine Tobin, Chicago'