I have long been concerned with the fact that sometimes the media scrutiny over a case can far outweigh the punishment for a crime handed out by the justice system.
Sometimes the media scrutiny exacts its own punishment even on those found not guilty.
It’s the later that’s the concern in the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania verses Robert Shearer.
Shearer is the McDowell Intermediate High School teacher and ROTC instructor accused of inappropriate contact with a 16-year old female cadet.
As the case moved forward there were some tell tale signs that not everything was as it appeared.
This kind of conduct is rarely done in a vacuum and often one person stepping forward causes others from the past to do the same.
That didn’t happen here.
Prosecutors pushed the fact that the teenager had no real motive to lie, but the jurors thought otherwise.
Robert Shearer was found not guilty on all charges.
But did he go unpunished?
By my count WSEE-TV did 32 stories on the Shearer case. There’s the initial charge and then the preliminary hearing then trial, all held on days when stations do four or more different shows.
The math adds up quickly.
But of those 32 stories, only the last two dealt with Shearer being found not guilty.
Doesn’t quite come across as “balanced” coverage, does it?
Of course, the media relies on the investigators and the prosecutors to weigh the credibility of the witness before someone faces the spotlight’s glare, but in he-said-she-said situations with little physical evidence that’s not always easy.
And don’t forget that many in society would rather err on the side of the victim, protecting a young girl as best as possible even if a few reputations get lost along the way.
So Robert Shearer was found not guilty by the criminal justice system.
But that came after the perp walks, the lights and the mikes, and the decision to give up teaching because the damage had become too much.
Shearer was found not guilty.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t punished.
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