Tom Fitton Quotes

Just because you're convicted in a court room doesn't mean you're guilty of something.

Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people; and behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him.

Anyone can be falsely accused of a crime. Everyone accused of a crime deserves a fair trial.

When I was initially charged I still thought I was not guilty because I had followed the rules.

Woe unto them ... who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!

You can't charge somebody with something they have not done.

All we can do is keep going up against then as long as Ray is alive because when he dies it will not be possible to establish the truth of his innocence in a court of law.

I didn't do what they said I did. I may have done enough so that I don't know if I can prove my innocence.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

When one person makes an accusation, check to be sure he himself is not the guilty one. Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamour.

I believe in my heart Simpson is guilty.

I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, there's no way you can prove anything!

Every time when there is an exoneration, and there have been hundreds of them, and somebody walks out of jail after years, people ask, “how could this happen?” …. State sanctioned killing is just wrong.

... a lynching of the Constitution.

Putting to death... of any man who has not been convicted, whosoever he might be, is forbidden

Using legally approved tricks and lies, the detective coerces a false confession. Hiding facts that support innocence, the prosecutor forces a dubious plea of guilt. The judge sentences for acquitted conduct, as she is allowed to do. The defense attorney for the poor, overworked because of underfunding by the state, fails to summon sufficient resources to investigate and rebut. The legal immigrant is deported with no meaningful access to constitutional rights. These intrusions are woven into the statutes and enabled by courts

The Saxon laws … decided almost all matters of any doubt amongst them by methods which, however inadequate, were extremely simple. They judged every controversy either by the conscience of the parties, or by the country’s opinion of it, or what they judged an appeal to Providence. They were unwilling to submit to the trouble of weighing contradictory testimonies; and they were destitute of those critical rules by which evidence is sifted, the true distinguished from the false, the certain from the uncertain.

We have a situation where a young man is basically convicted of his own murder.

These exonerations do not indicate that there is something wrong with the Texas Criminal Justice System. They demonstrate that the system is working. We have a lengthy and methodical process of appeals. And that is a great and good mark for Texas.

I have lost no sleep over the possibility that an innocent man might be executed.

Like me, most Americans hope that our justice system is independent and free of political interference. President Trump's pressuring of the Justice Department and FBI to pursue cases against his adversaries and calling for punishment before trials take place are totally inappropriate and not only undermine our justice system but erode the American people’s confidence in our institutions.

I was very upset because I did not have a fair trial to prove my loyalty to this country.

I am an innocent man, but I don't want to indulge in any controversy.

No one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual.

Were I ever alone in the dock, I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeit as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose.