maquisard wrote:airwise wrote:Why, if they had all of this evidence, did the Federal Investigators close their investigation almost overnight with no charges being made?
- The burden of proof required in a Federal case is much tighter. Cases can be thrown out on technicalities. This evidence didn't meet those requirements.
To further this:
To convict someone through the judicial system, they must be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that if there is ANY possible chance, that the evidence does not meet these requirements - he could be found innocent. (think OJ Simpson). Without a "smoking gun", the case is mostly circumstantial (although highly so) - and would likely have very little success in court. Not to mention the Barry Bonds case for perjury took years to resolve, imagine how long it would take federal prosecutors to prove Armstrong used PED's - thereby defrauding the US government beyond a shadow of a doubt. Armstrong would likely employ a must stronger defense than Barry Bonds.
However, to convict him through civil means, you simply have to prove that the burden of proof exists for such an event to have transpired a certain way. The USADA used this action to convict him. Because they (were to) proved that there was an overwhlelming chance that Armstrong did infact that PED's, he would be guilty (although he decided to not fight the charges).