A Rooney Moment is my own way of honoring, and to some small extent continuing, the great commentaries I enjoyed listening Andy give.

The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office (a very professional, and well respected law enforcement agency) conducted a criminal investigation and arrested Patrick Lott. The charges and the probable cause basis listed in a recent news article 'Respected N.J. vice principal accused of videotaping boys in school shower: 'No one is perfect' lists what the basis is to CHARGE Mr Lott. As is unfortunately typical of the public reaction to these types of charges, allegedly videotaping young boys in the school's shower, the public comments about the alleged crimes already have him convicted. The comments range from 'what a creep', through 'He needs to be put on a Solitary Island (Like Alcatraz) until he drops dead..'. Obviously, these and similar comments are not the final word as to what the outcome of these charges will be. The scary thing is that these comments are made from people like you and me, you know, the type of people who make up the jury pool that potential jurors will be drawn from.

I am not condoning criminal behavior, or downplaying the seriousness of the charges filed against Mr Lott. Nor am I commenting on the horrific impact that these types of crimes have on the innocent victims. I am commenting solely upon the idea that because someone is arrested and charged, that they are not entitled to the protections of our constitution. Mr Lott is presumed to be innocent, under our constitution, until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury of his peers. Those are not mere words. They apply to him, to you, and to me. As a citizen, I for one will not ever give up my constitutional rights, nor do I want Mr Lott or any other person charged with a crime to have theirs taken from them by the 'mindless' babble/comments of a faceless 'mob'. If I were your criminal defense lawyer, you would expect me to protect your rights, including your right to be presumed innocent at this stage of the proceedings. Mr Lott deserves those same rights.

As a last note, this Rooney Moment is not intended as a legal commentary, but as a social one. Our constitutional rights belong to each of us, and as strong as they are, they are weakened when the ignorant among us allow our opinions of the types of charges filed against a defendant to determine guilt, rather then waiting for the law to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, if they can.