Some news that would be completely mundane today but scary or shocking in the past.

      • MudMan@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I’m not an expert on the nuance of the US legal system, but “convicted” probably applies to the criminal system, right? What would it be in this scenario? A confirmed rapist? Just “a rapist”?

        Still, the guy raped some lady and he’s actively running for president. That one would be shocking any time before the mid 2010s, honestly.

        • Civil courts require a lower burden of proof than criminal courts. You can lose a civil case but then be declared innocent in a subsequent criminal case using the same evidence.

          As far as I know, “convicted” refers to criminal convictions, which doesn’t apply to Trump yet.

          He’s not a convicted rapist, just a rapist.

        • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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          1 year ago

          I have family in the US (who are not trumpets afaik) and they wouldn’t know that he actually got proven guilty for doing it. They‘d probably assume he made a deal.

          • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Isn’t it a civil trial tho and not a criminal trial? Meaning that the bar for evidence is just “more than likely” and not “beyond a reasonable doubt” right? I mean it’s still very damning but he has not (yet) been found guilty of the crime, just liable.

            • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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              1 year ago

              There is an important distinction of being “convicted” and “proven guilty” though. You can get off a conviction through multiple means, one being a mistrial and so on. I think there is no two ways about this after reading:

              A judge has now clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood.

    • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Yeah they’d be shocked that someone rich enough to run for president could be accused of rape ‘why didn’t he just have the girl committed to an asylum to keep her quiet?’