That is a long-standing illusion - I just finished reading 'Presumed Guilty' about some horrendous miscarriages of justice in WA (the water IS different, I tells yez), and at the end the author, a long-time court reporting journo who had the scales ripped from his eyes, runs through this very issue and how appearances can create a totally wrong impression on juries etc.

His basic theme was a totally deaf guy and a guy with a stammer, both fitted for murders they did not commit, and even when the real killer - a serial killer - confessed in detail, the courts would only give a pardon and not full restitution....

In analysing things, he stated clearly that a 'confident witness' such as a police officer, or in one case a rape victim who was a psychology student, swayed a jury more than facts did.  Incidentally the psych student victim later found she had mistakenly identified the convicted man in a wrongly organised lineup deliberately flawed by police,, who was later absolved through DNA, and they, the victim and the wrongfully convicted man, now tour the US lecturing on the pitfalls of the investigation, judicial and jury systems.

The author also pointed out the continuing fallacy of assuming that handsome etc faces etc mean the person is more virtuous.

(word for today - piftfall - a minor pitfall.... Grappler Keystroke Dictionary)

Would you buy a used car from this man?