Ought to judges be robust on defendants? Your letter writers say so.
However in our adversarial trial system, a decide is sort of a soccer referee. A prosecutor presents proof to show a defendant’s guilt. The protection legal professional seeks to exclude proof neither legally obtained nor related and argues to the jury that the state didn’t show its case past an inexpensive doubt.
It’s a aggressive train. The decide sits above all of it, monitoring the attorneys and ensuring everybody performs by the foundations. The decide stays impartial and unbiased.
Overt bias for the prosecution will trigger a mistrial or reversal on enchantment. If a jury returns a responsible verdict, sentencing follows and completely different guidelines then apply. The decide can contemplate the defendant’s previous legal historical past, statements by the sufferer and household, how the crime affected their lives, their suggestions on the sentence and different materials inadmissible in the course of the guilt section of the trial. The decide can impose any sentence allowed by Florida’s sentencing tips.
Gerard S. (Jerry) Williams, P.A., Fort Lauderdale
A ‘resounding’ victory
Hasn’t the Solar Sentinel realized that the election is over and that Donald Trump gained?
Trump gained 2,552 U.S. counties whereas Kamala Harris gained 382 (in unofficial returns by Nov. 7). If that isn’t a powerful victory, then Aaron Choose shouldn’t be the respectable MVP of baseball.
Two venomous letters to the editor in your Dec. 9 version appear to return to the rhetoric of the shedding Harris-Walz marketing campaign, by utilizing phrases akin to convicted felon and insecure narcissist. Most voters discounted that and so they gave Trump a powerful victory.
TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) remains to be alive and properly, nevertheless it ought to be relegated to the scrap heap of historical past. The Solar Sentinel ought to be glad that we the voters removed the worst administration in trendy historical past, the Biden-Harris administration, and that mature, educated, non-DEI folks will take over on Jan. 20, 2025.
Chuck Lehmann, Delray Seashore
Belittling gained’t work
The professional-Democrat mantra that individuals who voted for Trump should be racist, misogynistic and/or silly is getting actually outdated. It’s too lazy to be so dismissive of half of America.
Sooner or later you need to see the weak point of your personal staff. That Trump was so aggressive demonstrates that a big chunk of extraordinary Individuals didn’t like what they heard and noticed from Harris, and from Democrats normally, for the previous couple of years. Belittling others could really feel good, nevertheless it accomplishes little. That Harris might truly lose to Trump ought to trigger some severe soul-searching for Democrats. So steer a brand new course.
Tom Bolf, Plantation
An individual’s previous issues
Let me get this straight. In accordance with a latest letter, all that may disqualify somebody from being a candidate for a publish in a Trump administration is that if they killed somebody (Harold Brown of Delray Seashore, Dec. 11).
So it follows that if one is accused of sexual assault, alcohol abuse or having chauvinistic beliefs about ladies, that may not fee a passing concern. Or siding with a murderous dictator or parroting Russian propaganda, or dumping a useless bear in Central Park. To not point out that they’re all woefully unqualified to run the departments to which they’ve been nominated.
We must always simply overlook all of this? I don’t find out about you, however I feel somebody’s previous is vitally essential as to whether they need to maintain these positions.
Loyalty to at least one particular person doesn’t qualify you to run a serious federal company. Too many lives are effected by the management of those departments to permit unqualified, undeserving, ill-prepared folks to be accountable for them.
Steven Hoover, Margate
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