COLTS ISSUE STATEMENT ON HARRISON CASE

The Indianapolis Colts have issued a statement regarding Tuesday’s announcement by Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham that receiver Marvin Harrison won’t be charged in connection with an April 2008 shooting that involved a gun owned by him. “We have received reports that the Philadelphia District Attorney has announced her office will not be bringing charges against Marvin Harrison with regard to an alleged shooting incident on April 29, 2008,” the statement reads. “We are pleased with this development and defer to her ability to weigh the actual evidence. It would not be appropriate for us to have further comment at this time.” But the team’s position, in our view, clouds the reality of the situation. Abraham didn’t decide that Harrison is innocent. She merely decided that she doesn’t have enough evidence to believe with an appropriate degree of confidence that a jury would find Harrison guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Today’s decision by no means represents exoneration for Harrison. Instead, it’s further proof that we live in a country where individual liberties are guarded so zealously that we prefer to see a hundred guilty men roam free instead of one innocent person behind bars. [UPDATE: To the extent that anyone is confused by the point of my last paragraph, it’s a very good thing that we have a system that ensures innocent men aren’t imprisoned. But comments from the Colts or anyone else implying that today’s announcement by the D.A. means that Harrison has been found “innocent” are wrong -- it only means that there won’t be an effort to prove him legally guilty, regardless of whether he might be factually guilty.]