What business are you in?
Some people sell shoes.
I'm in the accusation business.
So are prosecutors and judges.
What about you?
Are you in the accusation business?
I don't know. Do you read the newspaper or watch TV? Listen to the radio?
You're always being told here's what someone did.
And you're always asking, "How do they know it was him?"
And then the reporter has to lay out the proof that the authorities say they have, otherwise you with-hold your judgment. Even when the reporter lays out what the authorities say, what are they relying on? You want to see what motivates the person on whom they rely. There's a difference between a jail-house snitch who gets out early for what he says and a person you know is a solid citizen with no reason to shade the truth. In between we have a world of shades of gray, don't we, some grayer than others.
You are constantly judging whether people are telling the truth and whether you're going to believe what they say, aren't you. Of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten this far.
You've known of too many examples of people being accused by these same authorities only to have it turn out later that it wasn't so.
Have you ever served on a jury?
Ordinary citizens serve on juries.
If you're an ordinary citizen who may serve on a jury some day, you're in the accusation business.
If you're a parent, you're in the accusation business. "Johnny, you ate that cookie I told you not to eat before dinner, didn't you!" That's an accusation. You're the complaining witness, prosecutor, judge, and jury. You even get to impose the punishment. Let's hope it fits the offense and you've got the right kid.
If you've been a kid, you've been in the accusation business. I don't know of any kids who've gone through life without being accused of something.
I've been in the accusation business for a long time, seven years as a prosecuting attorney and even longer as a defense attorney.
We take the accusation business very seriously.
I expect that you do the same.