Defending Jacob

by William Landay

“I don’t want you to say anything. I want you to listen. You know, being confident isn’t the same as being right.

Wendy was divorced, the only divorcée or single mom in their little group, and she was prone to imagine that others studied her for defects.

no one worth knowing can be quite known, no one worth possessing can be quite possessed—but after all, we were children.

In court, the thing we punish is the criminal intention—the mens rea, the guilty mind. There is an ancient rule: actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea—“the act does not create guilt unless the mind is also guilty.” That is why we do not convict

Neither of us had the words to address any of this directly, so we ignored it. This is the best thing about men’s friendships: most any awkwardness can be ignored by mutual agreement and, true connection being unimaginable, you can get on with the easier business of parallel living.

Damage hardens us all. It will harden you too, when it finds you—and it will find you.