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LYNCHED BY NEWSPAPER -

Rep Bob Allen & Due Process -

I have been generally appalled at the treatment Allen has been subjected to in at least some of the Florida newspapers I've read online since his case broke.

By chance, I happened upon an editorial in one of the state's newspapers the other day which really aggravated me; while paying scant lip service to Due Process, they, nevertheless, were already giving Allen the bum's rush out the door, encouraging him to resign.

Finally, though, one columnist at a Florida newspaper who's been browsing the buzz around this case has written something decent about it for a change. Some excerpts follow:

*But there was an ugly level of vitriol in online postings to the comment section of the Allen story, on the Web sites of this paper and Florida Today...

Some readers posting comments at the newspaper sites demanded that Allen be booted out of the Legislature, denied bail and sent to state prison immediately...

Like it or not, defendants in even the most lurid cases have a right to make the government prove it - and so do you and I, should we find ourselves on that side of the bar.*

Thank you, Bill Cotterell !
CAPITAL CURMUDGEON.

:: Presumed guilty ::

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