Residents of Denver are no strangers to controversial mega trials. When Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols needed a place to be tried, Denver stepped up and hosted two of the most controversial and highest secured trials in United States’ history.
Now, with Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to host the trials of suspected 9/11 masterminds in New York City, the concept of controversial, high profile trials are back.
I’m going to skip the arguments being made about if the 9/11 trials should be civil or military. I can see both sides, and I don’t know enough about the law to really weigh in with a good opinion.
However, I do believe that I can chime in on the idea of New York being able to host the trials of the people suspected of committing the biggest crime in the nation’s history.
To that point, I think yes, New York can host these trials and it can be done safely and it does not have to be the complete circus that some critics claim it will be.
First of all, looking at security, if any city can keep this secure, New York can. Do you honestly think any officer in the NYPD will think twice about doing whatever it takes to keep their city secure during these trials?
This is the same city that keeps its own citizens safe when leaders from all over the world come in to visit the U.N., and when one million people come to Times Square every New Year’s eve. Also, it’s not like the federal government will let the city handle the security by itself, so I really don’t think security will be an issue.
When it comes to the media circus, I think much of that can be controlled by one simple decision. Will the trials be televised a la OJ Simpson and Judge Ito, or will cameras be kept outside, like they were for the OKC trials? If you keep the cameras out, the circus feeling will be lessened, not entirely eliminated, but decreased dramatically.
To the point that the trials will allow those accused a platform to speak their controversial vitriol towards America, this is part of the whole idea of bringing these people to justice. Way back on September 12th, 2001, as a nation, we said we wanted to bring those responsible to justice. Brining anyone to justice, at least in the United States, allows them to defend themselves and say whatever they like.
We’ve had controversial trials before in American history where unsavory types were able to speak their own verbal garbage. However offensive it may be, this country has always survived because it’s not about their message. It’s about the freedom to say what you want and the more important freedom to ignore what you want.
The fact that our country lets lunatics of all shapes and sizes say whatever they want is exactly what these particular lunatics hate about our country. Censoring them would feel much more comfortable to them, because it would be more like how their home countries would treat the situation.
No, I think it’s time we show these true enemies of the state what this country is all about. It’s about having the right to say whatever you want in defense of the indefensible. And it’s also about the rights of a jury to say whatever they want. While I can’t guarantee it, I think what the jury will say will be far more valuable.