This Is True offers weekly emails include snippets of news from various media sources, often with a very brief commentary. These news stories are usually “stranger than fiction,” like only 68 out of 200 Anglican priests being able to name all Ten Commandments while 50% of them said they believed in space aliens.

I read this in a recent email from This Is True:

Evan Savoie, 15, is standing trial for the murder of a 13-year-old playmate in Ephrata, Wash. Because she’s a witness in the case, Lisa Sorger, the victim’s mother, is not allowed to attend trial sessions when she isn’t testifying. Therefore, the judge has appointed an attorney to ensure the victim’s family’s interests are properly represented in court — to cheers from victims’ rights groups. But Randy Smith, one of the lawyers for the accused, is fuming over the decision. “It’s a sad state of affairs when you raise victims’ rights to the same level as the constitutional rights of the accused,” he said.

Of course, we all know that the rights of those accused of crimes are higher and more important than anyone else’s, including their victims!