“With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone.” Robert H. Jackson, The Federal Prosecutor, 31 Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 3, 5 (1940). Even technical or seemingly minor violations may carry severe penalties. Thus, “without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.” The Federalist No. 74, at 501 (A. Hamilton) (Cooke, ed., 1961).
Could a paraphrase of the above be applied here?