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

Bail is allowed when a person is charged with a crime, in almost all criminal cases. Sometimes the bail is substantial, sometimes it is minimal. The purpose of bail is to provide the courts with some certainty that the person charged will continue to submit themselves to the authority of the Court. That is it. Nothing magical, and certainly nothing punitive.

We as a people deserve the same justice that we give to others. A person charged with a crime, even one as horrific as those alleged against these teachers, is presumed INNOCENT unless and until proven guilty in a Court of law. As an experienced criminal defense lawyer (and before that as a prosecutor, and before that as a cop) I treasure and celebrate the rights and protections we as a people enjoy when one of us is charged with a crime. Our forefathers provided us with these protections, and they are essential to the freedoms we all enjoy.

To the less educated (read that as being a jab at those who appear to be essentially ignorant of what our laws and Constitution give us as our rights when we are charged with a crime) amongst us, you would also be entitled to these same protections and rights if you were ever charged with a crime. Given the idiotic ranting of some of the public comments posted in regards to a recent article 'Miramonte teacher accused of lewd acts is freed on $300,000 bond' it is clear that these commentators do not understand anything about these protections, or the purpose of bail. Too bad, because they might stop their silly comments if they truely appreciated the reasons for these rights.

Fortunately, these commentators are not at risk of losing these rights, anymore then the people charged with these crimes are, because those of us who truly understand the importance of the presumption of innocence and the right to bail pending a conviction will never stop working to protect our clients; and, will never stop protecting our system of justice so it is still there when these commentators need it.

As a last note, this Rooney Moment is not intended as a legal commentary, but as a social one. Our constitutional rights (including the presumption of innocence) and the right to bail pending a conviction belong to all of us, and as strong as they are, they are weakened when they are ignorantly denigrated based upon the type of charge filed against someone.