Warren Dew wrote:Martha Steward got convicted for not talking to the feds about a crime that it turned out she didn't commit.
Never did figure out what happened to the fifth amendment in that case.
She was, I think, convicted of lying. It's o.k. not to talk, but in the securities arena, lying even when you haven't committed a provable underlying offense of insider trading is a crime. I find that repugnant, too, but it isn't exactly a 5th amendment issue. It's just, to me, a fundamental fairness issue. If a cop asks me questions about whether I robbed a liquor store, and I was in New York at the time, but I lie and tell him I was busy getting head from his wife at the time, that ought not be a crime. They ought to prosecute crimes. Not lying.