Is this the photo that could clear Assange ?

[Jim Lane]

68. There is such a thing as rape or sexual assault, BUT....

there is also such a thing as a false accusation. There is also such a thing as a true accusation in which the accuser is smeared as making a false accusation.

How do you take a particular case and decide which kind it is? In American law, at least, you give it to a jury, and the jurors hear all the evidence. A photograph of a woman smiling as if nothing had happened is admissible evidence that nothing happened. The test isn't that the evidence indisputably proves that conclusion to be true, or even that it makes the conclusion more likely to be true than false. The test (in American law) is that the evidence makes the conclusion more likely to be true than it would be without the evidence.

Of course, it's also admissible for the prosecution to introduce evidence as to why the woman felt pressured into smiling, even though there was an actual rape. Nevertheless, you can't exclude a whole class of evidence just because it sometimes supports an inaccurate conclusion.