“You just have to understand, being found not guilty in Newenham of any fishing-related crime is not exactly the same thing as being innocent.”
“Where was the trial?”
Her smile was approving. “Right here in Newenham.”
“Acquittal,” he said.
“You got it. Just like last six cases where anyone could be bothered to bring charges. Probably one out of every two jurors from a panel generated from this judicial district is thinking to himself, There but for the grace of god go I. So we get acquittals, now and then a hung jury. Sometimes,” she said reflectively, “sometimes, in my more cynical moments, I think they’ve got it worked out before hand, before they ever go into deliberation. But that’s only in my more cynical moments. Most of the time I’m a regular Pollyanna when I look at our judicial system. Innocent until proven guilty, I always say.”
“And everybody out there today qualifies.”
“That’s right,” she said cheerfully. “You just have to understand, being found not guilty in Newenham of any fishing-related crime is not exactly the same thing as being innocent.”
Excerpt from the first Liam Campbell novel, Fire and Ice. The fifth, Spoils of the Dead, publishes on February 6, 2021. Order your signed hardcover here.
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