Criminal Justice System and Perjury on the Witness Stand

In response to “Police Power Magnifies Harm of Lying,” by Hugh R. Manes, Op-Ed Page, Oct. 16:

Manes’ article about police lying on the witness stand is long on the law and says nothing about justice, and justice is what the police attempt to provide working within a toothless criminal justice system.

Detectives are not going to toss aside a year of solid police work on a drug felony bust just because the assistant district attorney tells them they overlooked a case law rule which began in the early 1960s with Mapp vs. Ohio and was followed by a line of cases that last year had the Supreme Court arguing about the location and contents of a garbage can.

“Was there probable cause to search and to seize” is often a difficult decision-making process that police do not have time to engage in. So they make whatever adjustments are necessary on the witness stand. The result is that the law is accommodated with a lie and justice is served--criminals go to jail.

Early in this century, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that “law and justice are mutually exclusive.” That phrase has been repeated so often it has become a cliche. Thus, when Manes takes the police to task for lying, he should instead look to the Warren Court and other liberal justices for their zeal in protecting the rights of those who plunder society while rejecting any duty to society itself. The police accept that duty.

BRYAN ALEKSICH

Idyllwild