Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Illinois

Re: proven not-guilty but responsible

The standards of proof differ between criminal cases and civil cases.

In a criminal case, a governmental entity, whether a municipality, state government or the federal government, must prove guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt." In other words, no juror can have any reasonable doubt about the guilt of the defendant. In the O.J. Simpson case, the jurors had at least some reasonable doubt that Simpson did not murder the victims in question.

In a civil case, on the other hand, the burden of proof on a plaintiff, which may be a private citizen, such as Dan Goldman's family, is only a "preponderance of the evidence" standard. In other words, just over half-way or, in other words, 51% certain that he did it. The jurors may have many, many reasonable doubts about whether Simpson murdered the victims -- indeed, they may have almost as many doubts about whether he did it as they are certain he did it -- but as long as the certainty outweights the doubts by even a little bit, the plaintiff will prevail. In the Simpson civil case, the jury found Simpson "liable" for damages.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; www.AshmanLawOffices.com; [email protected]

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