Restore the Old Republic

Restore the Old Republic

I must repeat that the first OJ jury did not say that OJ didn't kill 'em.

I didn't bring it up before because I assumed that someone who can cite the Constitution would be aware of this one crucial difference between a criminal verdict and a civil one in US law, but since you haven't mentioned it, I'm starting to doubt it: Standard of proof.

In a criminal trial the jury must find "beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty" that the facts supporting conviction are true. In a civil trial the jury must merely find that the facts supporting the plaintiff are proven by "a preponderance of the evidence," i.e. it's more likely than not that they're true.

It makes plenty of sense that there are two standards. In a criminal trial, the defendant has much to lose and the People little to lose if the verdict is wrong. In a civil trial, each side has an equal amount to lose.

It may interest you to know that the double-trial thing doesn't happen in the opposite direction. If you take a criminal conviction verdict into a civil trial, the judge will consider it essentially conclusive proof; he won't even bother to ask a civil jury about those facts. That's because if it's proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then it's also proven by a preponderance of the evidence.