“A criminal trial is not a search for truth. It is much too circumscribed for that. Rather, a trial is a formalized contest for the hearts and minds of a panel of twelve. It is a quest for a verdict in which information is selected and screened (we can almost say “processed”) before it is allowed to reach jurors.”

Absolutely 5 stars for accuracy but, the thumbs down is for what its done/doing to our country. It might be added, that though the rule of law is often vainly mouthed in court, the entire process is exercised to elicit an emotional out come - truth, law, and justice usually being victims.

A pretty accurate quote.

An apt description but Frost said the same much better.

Agree Mike.

Peope have a right to their privacy and of course the indicted and their lawyers do not have to tell their whole story to the jury. They are there to keep their secrets as private as possible. In my job as an auditor, an auditee said it response to one of my inquiries "that is for me to know and for you to find out". Yes that is what audits and trials are all about. If we could guarantee that every one tells the truth at all times, no trial or inquiry would be necessary. I give it a five for accuaracy and for the fact that it is the way that it should be in our "innocent until proven guilty world" of private lives and private secrets.

You may not like it but that's tough.

I would say to Mr. Finch that "we must try, even though sometimes we fail, therefore, you get no stars this time".

It's because 'Law' is a business -- a very, very lucrative business. The quote is not about 'innocent until proven guilty' it is about what Mike is saying -- it is about the perversion of due process.

Leave it to Archer to be the only one to know what the quote is about. The fact is that trials and lawyers are that way for the sheer fact they we do not have to tell the truth if we are indicted. The only one who knew and still knows the truth in the OJ case is he and God. The rest of us just have our opinions, and people who I generally loved and respected thought he was innocent, go figure.