The rule of law applies...........

..........except when the mob doesn't like the ruling and tries to impose its own will.  This is what is happening following the verdict in the assault trial of off-duty Toronto police officer Michael Theriault, who was found guilty of assault.  Thousands of people took to the streets in aggressive protests demanding that....what?  That Theriault be strung up and hanged?

That's about what it looks like to me.

The poor judge, Joseph Di Luca, took four hours to render the verdict, which was broadcast live and to which 18,000 people tuned in.  Eighteen thousand would fill Toronto's Scotiabank Arena!  Instead of delivering his verdict, he had to give a painstaking background on why he ruled as he did.  "My task is not to deliver the verdict that is most clamoured for, or to conduct a public inquiry into matters involving race and policing." said the beleaguered Di Luca.

Frankly, why did he have to go on for four hours to justify the law he was imposing?

I was heartened and relieved that the two criminal defence lawyers I saw being interviewed agreed with the verdict and said it was the correct one, given the evidence.  In spite of being black, neither was swayed by the frothing mob braying for blood.

I'm not going to go into the details of the case, except to say two brothers caught a teenager trying to steal their parents' car, chased him down and pummeled him.  There is a dispute about who brought the lead pipe and whether it, or a fist, was what injured the eye.  All this Di Luca took into account, noting that he had many credibility issues with the victim who he believed had lied about breaking into vehicles.  In spite of all that.......

"You know, a guilty or not guilty verdict doesn't change what happened.  It doesn't give Mr. Miller his sight back.  It doesn't take away the paranoia that he's probably feeling," opined Pascale Diverius, a founding member of 'Black Lives Matter Toronto'.

What has that got to do with the legal matter?  Let's ignore the facts and let's ignore the law.  Let's just rave on about a personal agenda.  See, that's where the credibility of these movements crashes.  If not convenient, facts are denied or ignored.

"Justice is Blind" means that Lady Justice is impartial and objective; she does not treat people differently.  The scales of justice represent the balance of the individual against the needs of society and must be a fair balance between the interests of one individual and another.  Since the 16th century, Lady Justice has been depicted wearing a blindfold, which represents impartiality, that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power, or other status (i.e., race).

In this case, the victim said -- contrary to the bellowing and frenzied mob behind him -- "I don't feel like I took a loss.  I feel like we took a step forward."

I am sure the agitated and enraged leaders holding placards behind him were none too pleased.

As a relevant aside, I want to add that I saw a post of four, hand drawn characters.  One said, "I'm a proud Asian Canadian."  Another, "I'm a proud Black Canadian."  "I'm a proud Indigenous Canadian."  The fourth said, "I'm a proud White Canadian.  I must be racist."