The Judgment Against Lance Armstrong - Essay Example

Why the decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his s is wrong? Introduction For this paper, I would like to write about an unpopular stance of defending somebody that I disdain because he cheated when he competed not to mention he used illegal performance enhancing substance just to have an edge over his competitors. The subject would be “Why the decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his titles is wrong?” Body On August 24, 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) wiped out the 14 years of Armstrong’s racing career that includes the seven Tour de France titles after concluding that he used illegal substance.

USADA also banned Armstrong for life from the sport. Armstrong on the other hand would no longer challenge the USADA decision finding USADA’s investigation dismissing it as a “witch hunt” that is bent on convicting him without any physical evidence. Armstrong denied that he ever took banned substances in his career (Associated Press). This decision of USADA to strip Armstrong of his titles and ban him from the sport for life is not only wrong but also excessive. It can be likened to a death penalty (Zimmerman) of which Armstrong is undeserved.

It is based on onerous and unreasonable proceedings t that even the United States District Court indicated the troubling aspect of the case and indicated “the deficiency of USADA’s charging document is of serious constitutional concern” (2012 WL 3569682). It is important to state that the prosecution of USADA against Armstrong is based on “non-analytical positive” or from witness testimony and not from the presentation of concrete, scientific laboratory results. Armstrong was right when he commented that USADA convicted him without any physical evidence.

To back up that comment, it has to be noted that Armstrong never tested positive to over 500 tests he was subjected to during his active career. Worst, the use of “analytical non-positive” proceeding to convict Armstrong that requires the testimony of a witness was tainted with corruption making the ground of his conviction to be doubtful if not illegal. It could be argued that there are numbers of witness who testified against Armstrong that justified the conviction. But the manner of which those testimonies were obtained or extracted automatically removes the credibility of such witnesses and making it unfit to be used as evidence in the court of law.

An agency cannot break the federal bribery law just to convict anyone. Thus, the evidence used against Armstrong can be dismissed not only as hearsays but also illegal that could nullify the charges hurled against him. Also, per USADA’s own rules, Armstrong needs for a full and fair opportunity to interview the witnessed used against him which was never given and therefore a violation of USADA’s own rules (Langle, 2012). Conclusion In consideration of the above stated onerous, flawed, faulty and even unconstitutional proceeding, Armstrong should have been entitled of a judicial review of a legitimate US court as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment that forbids punishment without due process of law.

Yet despite of the guarantee of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of United States for Armstrong to have a judicial review against the absence of legitimate due process of law, USADA became overzealous in imposing the penalty that revealed its intention to “witch hunt” Armstrong despite the absence of legitimate due process and usage of illegal evidence that violated its own rules and therefore, the judgment against Armstrong is wrong. Works Cited Associated Press. Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles by USADA.

CBC Sports. August 24, 2012. Retrieved from [http://www.cbc.ca/sports/cycling/story/2012/08/24/sp-usada-cycling-lance-armstrong.html] Langle, Heath. Armstrong - Truth, Justice, and the American Way. September 21, 2012. Retrieved from [http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=20287]. Zimmerman, Anna (2012). Lance Armstrong vs Oprah Winfrey Round 2. January 19, 2013. Retrieved from [http://150wattsofawesome.blogspot.com/]