"First impressions" were a terrifying thing.
The purpose of the federal justice system's "Presumption of Innocence" was to prevent people from directly assuming that a suspect was a criminal, an idealistic notion that would cause the trial to deviate from the proper course.
Once someone believed another person carried a certain label, no matter what that person did, it would all be seen as "suspicious" behavior.
Like... cheating.
It was a broad concept, so let's narrow it down a little: cheating at gambling.
When you believed your opponent was cheating at gambling, if he won money, you would assume he had used some kind of "technical means" to obtain victory. It would be a despicable victory.
When you held a strong hand and your opponent chose to fold, you would also think he might have known your hole cards and thus avoided the greatest risk.
No matter what your opponent did, it would seem unreasonable to you. Only if he lost a great deal of money by the end of the game would you ease your suspicion of him, rather than believe he had not cheated!
That was how first impressions worked. They controlled people's thoughts, forcing them to think according to a fixed pattern. It was a terrifying concept.
That was why the justice systems of most countries demanded the "Presumption of Innocence." What they had to do was clear the suspicion surrounding a suspect, not prove that the suspect was a criminal! When the name Gladstone surfaced in Conner's mind, he instinctively felt that Gladstone might very well be involved.
Because the other people who knew about this—his wife, his wife's husband, and some of the people around him, for example—
all had an unusual conflict of interest with him. Simply put, if he lost his chance to