MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

To the editor:

From information that I have gleaned from newspaper accounts of Governor French Academy being awarded $1.2 million in a lawsuit against Kevin Welch of Okawville, I find it one of the most asinine, corrupt, unconstitutional civil trials in recent local history.

Surely this was not a jury trial. Juries can be trusted to serve justice far more than a judge. I do not know the reason given by the judge why this was not a jury trial. A lame excuse of common law does not explain it.

The Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "The right of trial by jury shall be preserved."

There are no alternatives to this statement. This is an individual right, not a collective right of the states. Jury trials are automatic by this mandate of the Constitution, unless waived by a defendant.

Rights preserved by the U.S. Constitution do not have to be incorporated into state law by a U.S. Supreme Court opinion. The U.S. Supreme Court cannot make law, change or violate the U.S. Constitution, but continues to blatantly do so.

Courts and judges are not the foundation of our justice system, juries are. Just like our founding fathers did, we cannot trust courts and judges to serve justice.

Never go to court, as a defendant, without demanding a jury trial.

Charles D. Sullivan
Waterloo