> this nutjob is absolutely paranoid

If COVID's social experiment (especially masks, on both sides, as some bizarre litmus for "Are you crazy or sane?") taught us anything, it's that we should remember to measure ourselves by our communities.

If 9/10 of my neighbors think I'm a paranoid asshole, then I'm probably a paranoid asshole.

I should then spend some time reflecting on why they think that, rather than rationalizing and conspiring with my immediate family about how the rest of the world is out to get us by tagging the street with chalk drawings.

The prosecutor didn’t ask for the case to be thrown out. The prosecutor decided not to cross examine Mr Epstein. She then asked the judge for an acquittal. She knew that the prosecution had lost after Mr Epstein testified and the “victim” lied under oath. There was no point cross examining and wasting more of the taxpayers money and courts time. Although the trial should never have taken place at all

That's a fair clarification and that is what happened, but to be clear, when I said they asked it to be thrown out, I was referring to the prosecutor asking the judge for an acquittal.

That's... not normal. And the judge praises her for this, specifically. I assume he knows more about the total situation than most of us and would generally defer to him on that point, since he's obviously no fan of this farce.