2007-02-12 04:31:57 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The young Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith was tried in 1857 for the murder by poison of her foreign-born working-class lover. Nobody has ever suggested that she didn't do it, and many commentators have suggested that she only escaped conviction and the death penalty because of her class and his.
However, the legal viewpoint has generally been that the evidence actually brought against her was insufficient, by a whisker, to support a guilty verdict.
2007-02-12 09:37:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial. The evidence didn't support the notion that the guy they convicted did it, but he was a poor immigrant so they convicted him anyway.
O.J. Simpson. Had he been just another average white guy, he'd be on Death Row. He was black and had money, so he got away with a double murder.
Ted Kennedy. Had he been just another average guy, he'd have been locked up right away for not reporting the accident instead of waiting 8 hours to do it, and then he'd have been convicted of manslaughter. But because he was a rich man and a politician, he got away with it.
Michael Jackson. Had he been just another black pedophile, he'd be in prison right now. Because he was a rich celebrity with a blind fanatical following, he got away with some serious child sex crimes.
2007-02-12 12:38:33 · answer #2 · answered by Team Chief 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OJ Simpson
Ted Kenndy
Michael Jackson
2007-02-12 12:39:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the Dreyfus trial, perhaps, because he was Jewish--and there was a kind of class snobbery against Jews (in France).
2007-02-12 12:55:15 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most major crimes committed by the aristocracy in the past went unpunished.
2007-02-12 12:38:12 · answer #5 · answered by Gloryana 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jeremy Thorpe in Britain in 1977 (I think).
2007-02-13 04:00:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
O.J.Simpson!
2007-02-12 12:39:39 · answer #7 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋