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Uh-Oh, what if Dotcom is innocent?

It's an interesting observation that most people believe (regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation) that Kim Dotcom will be found guilty of the charges leveled against him.

This is probably more because we're aware of the injustice of the US legal system than because we think he's "guilty as charged" -- but what if he's found not-guilty?

What if the courts decide in Dotcom's favour and he's effectively discharged without conviction?

Will US and Kiwi taxpayers be left facing a possible prosecution and claim for damages for unlawful imprisonment and the unlawful seizure of assets?

Now I'm not a lawyer so I don't know if such a thing is possible -- yet I seem to recall that plenty of similar law suits have been brought by others who have unfairly been victimised by police and the justice system.

Given Dotcom's massive fortune, which one would assume will be returned to him if he is not found guilty, I would suspect that he'd have plenty of money with which to hire a team of "ace" lawyers to take such an action.

And, if I were him, NZ would be the first target in my sights.

He could likely claim that NZ authorities acted to falsely imprison him and steal his lawfully owned assets when they acted on requests from the FBI.

One could surely argue that there is always a "duty of care" to ensure that such requests are not frivolous and that they are substantiated by evidence that shows such seizures and imprisonment are warranted.

I seem to recall an NZ judge who presided over the first appearance of Dotcom in court claiming that he hadn't seen such evidence.

Uh oh!

I sure hope we don't find ourselves (taxpayers) facing a huge bill for not only trying to defend such an action against the crown -- but also possibly having to hand over many millions in damages, costs and compensation, should Dotcom prevail.

Being the lapdog of a rich master may sound like a pretty sweet number but sometimes it can have nasty side-effects.

Of course this could only be an issue of Dotcom is found not-guilty -- and what are the chances of that?

Well this Arstechnica article seems to indicate that his defense team may have some good arguments on their side.

Could it be that these austere times may become just a little more austere, as taxpayers are forced to dig into their pockets to compensate Kim Dotcom for the shabby way he has been treated and his "right to be presumed innocent" has been usurped?

Maybe we ought to ask Bill English if he'd care to take a guess at how much this might cost taxpayers? (while he's in a "guessing" mood).

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