Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Perception is reality. There are examples of it every day. Stocks are bought or sold because someone with credibility (or perceived credibility) says they do or don't like this, that or some other thing about a company. If this person is important enough or in a position where they are perceived to be an authority, their opinion will be taken as fact - a truth.

Here's another example:

A reporter with The Salt Lake Tribune (Pretty important title, wouldn't you say?) writes a story that starts with the headline, "Three Utah Men Charged in Mortgage Fraud Scheme." So far that's not bad. Three Utah men were in fact charged in a mortgage fraud scheme. I will however assert that this would not be an odd exchange over the breakfast table this morning.

(Frank reads this news story on his laptop)
Frank: Honey, look at this. Three more schemers ripping off the banks.
Honey: They should be shot!

Then Frank and Honey grab their pitchforks and hunt down those dirty schemers.

There is no way in hell that Frank is going to read that story and say, "Gosh, I wonder if they did it." Please please please read the story and tell me that I'm wrong. Tell me that after reading it you actually think that these three might be innocent.

I am not saying that the information in the article is factually untrue, I am saying that it is written in such a way that most people would undoubtedly believe these three are absolutely guilty. But check this section of the story. I will highlight the words that I think skew the reader - on purpose.

"Haycock allegedly formed four companies, referred to as Haycock Properties. Prosecutors say the straw buyers were told that the companies would be making loan payments for them, buyers would not have to make a down payment and the homes, whose appraisals had been rigged for more than they were worth, would be quickly sold. Buyers were allegedly paid from $7,000 to $20,000 to sign purchase and loan documents. "

I believe that we are so numb to the word allegedly that it might as well not even be there. And if the Prosecutors say something, aren't we supposed to believe it? Seriously.

The story could have said - "The prosecutors think that Haycock might have formed four companies, referred to as Haycock Properties, but this has not been proven so no one really knows yet."

You can say, "Come on Jerome. One of the guys said he wasn't involved but he was an attorney who was disbarred in 2001. He's clearly lying. And the other two guys didn't even want to talk to the reporter - if they didn't do anything wrong, why are they hiding."

Instead of saying, "Smith couldn't be reached for comment.", why didn't the reporter say, "We couldn't get a hold of Smith, so let's not make any assumptions here. He'll have a chance to retain an attorney and present his side of the story." Why? Because by saying he couldn't be reached for comment, it sounds like he's avoiding comment and therefore, must have done something wrong.

I believe the story was written this way so that we will make the assumption that these are dirty rotten criminals. It would seem to me that most of us find dirty rotten criminals more interesting than people who, "might have done something wrong but we're not sure." I think it's more interesting. But I don't think it's right that a reporter, a newspaper, takes advantage of the fact that the general public has a perception that they are just reporting the facts, in order to sell more papers.

You know what? I think the guys did it. Maybe not everything in the indictment, but they did some of it - maybe even most of it. The reason I think that is because I was in the same position they are in right now.

15 years ago I was involved in a fraud conspiracy. It's a long story, but to cut to the chase, I did it. I committed a crime, I plead guilty to the crime and I served time in prison for it. But I remember clearly, the feeling that I had to prove I was innocent. The papers, the community, heck, even some of my family and friends believed I was guilty - before my first hearing.

All they had to go on was the indictment, which is nothing more than an accusation. Don't forget, it is an accusation by an authority figure - the federal prosecutor. They wield quite a bit of influence and believe me, they're really really scary.