According to iacisrmma, once accused you’re never innocent. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Because, as he says, even if you’re outright acquitted you’re “not innocent”.
The reality, however, is they even if found guilty it is no indication of actual guilt, given America’s corrupt court system and prosecution system.
Need I remind anyone how many former convicts were later exonerated? Often after serving decades in prison wrongly. You hear another such case almost every day. And how many more innocents are still languishing in America’s prisons convicted but not exonerated?
Halacha, on the other hand, puts the onerous on the accuser. Even guilty beyond reasonable doubt is insufficient to convict of a crime. Each Dayan who votes guilty must truly believe with his entire heart and soul that the evidence proves beyond *any* doubt that the accused is absolutely guilty, in order for the Dayan to be permitted to vote guilty.
And if not convicted, the accused is considered a member in good standing of Klal Yisroel as much as the Kohen Godol.