George Harris Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel 2008

Maybe the legal minds out there can straighten me out on this. What is wrong with President Obama sounding confident about the conviction of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?.

In an interview with reporter Chuck Todd the president said, 'when' not 'if' Mohammed is convicted, and immediately the press got into a tizzy about the president creating a problem for the prosecution by publicly pronouncing the pre-decided guilt of the accused.

Of course the defense will try to use this at trial. But what if the president had sounded tentative about the guilt of the accused. Then anyone could say, "Well, if even the president of the United States is uncertain that Mohammed is guilty, how can the government prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

Pre-trial publicity in the form of such pronouncements is a potential issue when the jury pool contains some people who haven't already heard about the case. These are the ideal jurors. But if there are people anywhere in the country, or the world for that matter, who haven't already heard about the arrest of the 9/11 mastermind, I don't think I'd want them on the jury anyway.

If Saddam Hussein could be given a fair trial in Iraq, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed can get a fair trial here. It's time for justice.