An elected officials guide for handling an indictment (updated regularly)

The Empire | Mar 29, 2012

WNYC's Bob Hennelly has a great piece up on our website today on the long history of politicians standing accused, but refusing to stand down. The seeming ever-growing list of indicted elected officials (with some potentially on the way) goes back to time immemorial...or, at least to Aarron Burrs' mortal strike that left Alexander Hamilton dead on the banks of the Hudson.

"Over the years several public officials in New York have elected to stay in office even as they face criminal charges and indictments  -- despite the common misperception that an indictment in of itself is  evidence of culpability," Hennelly writes. "It is not."

Indicted and criminally charged officials continuing to serve in elective office presents a conundrum that puts two of our most fundamental democratic principles in quite a tension: The right to the resumption of innocence that is foundational to our nation's legal system and the right of constituents to unencumbered representation.

Check out the full article here. Check out the broadcast version above.

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