NEWS

During a Sunday afternoon drive through the environs of Los Angeles, a car containing four friends was stopped by the police. No illegal act was charged, though the pretext of looking for dope was used. The four were subjected to lengthy grilling in public, and later at a police station, in the attempt to establish a homosexual relationship between them.

As one of the four was under 21, he was subjected to hours of pressure, until at last a signed statement was wrung from him "confessing" to sexual intimacies with one of the others, which statement he later attempted to deny and repudiate.

At the trial some weeks later two witnesses for the defense fearlessly and with vigor demolished with facts and dates each and every allegation contained in the "confession." Its youthful writer did not appear in court. The judge in rendering his verdict of not guilty stated that the aggressive attitude of the two witnesses threw doubt on the validity of their testimony.

Is a court of law presumed to be a gentleman's club in which it is bad form for citizens to be too emphatic in overthrowing a lie? To a reporter from ONE in the courtroom disquieting questions were posed by the judge's statements. It must be remembered that in his verdict he himself had found the "confession" to be false. Yet, in urbane and witty language, he could disparage the attitude of the two who had proven it so.

Perhaps American citizens are supposed to supinely submit to the most vicious smears, be robbed of their freedoms, suffer heavy financial losses for attorney's fees, time lost, and then meekly go to jail without protest. But, in the good American tradition of fighting for freedom-even if someone does get hurt, as so often happens during fighting we should remind ourselves-when the worm turns and the individual dares to stand up for his rights, those standing at the very outposts of justice profess astonishment.

Is it not time that American citizens fought back more often? It may be that a wave of "bad" courtroom manners would bring a little healthy respect for constitutional rights back into the picture.

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