27 October

As with the Cardinal Pell trial, this is what happens when populism replaces our basic institutions. In Pell's case, the High Court ended up acquitting him because it found the jury 'lacked sufficient doubt' i.e. they'd already made up their minds before they arrived. And now a juror in the Lehrman trial was 'doing their own research', classic populism. I don't have a clue in either case who is guilty and who isn't. It's irrelevant what we think. The purpose of the justice system is to FIND OUT. As with Pell, there was so much pre-assumed guilt by the time this trial started, I suspect it may have been overturned on appeal too, even if the trial had been allowed to finish. Populism is people launching their own crusades based on their own (or no) facts. A social media-driven lynch mob.