Again, “not guilty” literally means the State did not carry
Posted on: June 14, 2024 at 09:25:26 CT
Lovely Rita UW
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its burden of proof (beyond a reasonable doubt).
The jury does not have to conclude that the alleged victim was lying - only that her evidence was not compelling enough to carry the burden.
They may have found that she was not lying but rather mistaken (assault happened, but wrong guy) or that she was simply unconvincing (“she may be telling the truth but she has not removed doubts I have”).
Sometimes, obviously a witness just flat out lies. The jury does not make such findings - it just says the burden was not met leaving bystanders to speculate on what they concluded.
Edited by Lovely Rita at 10:05:28 on 06/14/24