TheGreenHornet
Platinum Member
- Nov 21, 2017
- 6,241
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- #621
A fair and impartial jury of your peersThere is a difference between you thinking you are impartial and a prosecutor or defense attorney believing you are impartialEach side has a limited number of preemptive challenges. Some jurors have things in their past that prevent them from being impartial. I had jury duty last summer and some of the dismissed jurors were just freaking stupid or assholesThe fact is she killed an "innocent man" ! And was convicted of murder by a "jury of her peers", whatever that means! I don't believe the jury system insures fairness, when the prosecutor and defense can have jurors "preemptively". If a person is selected for jury duty and appears to serve a blind selection should be held. Put the names in a box and select them 1 at a time. I watched jury selection in a case where a man was accused of "damaging flowers at a cemetery site" by removing them and throwing them in the trash. There were 5 men in the jury pool of 18. The Prosecutor was able to have all but one removed preemptively. The 5th was an elderly man who had poor hearing the judge excused him. The complainant went on the stand and cried and sobbed for 30 minutes. All the evidence was a video of the man removing the flowers to a trash receptacle and sitting quietly at a gravesite then walking away, he was the interred mans son. The complainant was another relative. The man was convicted of "Criminal damaging" by an all white female jury, and sentenced to 6 mos. in jail. The system needs change. The right to confront and cross examine an accuser can be done without ever bringing people into court where they also have to confront a potentially hostile jury. Sequester jury's and never identify the race or gender of the Accused or the Accuser to them. That way they can base their decision solely on the facts presented and not human emotion or deep seated resentment of another race or gender. We have a problem with racism in the court system. Instead of selecting a jury that will weigh the facts. Prosecutors cherry pick for a jury that will convict based on the thinnest of evidence.
You are asked basic questions before you ever get to the selection process. One question is whether you believe you can fairly rule on the law.
I was called in for a murder case. They asked me all of these questions concerning what I thought on guns. Irrelevant. I can have views on something but still make a decision based upon the law.
They usually take the side of caution and dismiss you if there is any indication of partiality
A jury of your peers. Not a jury of your peers that believe a certain way.
That is the goal and a worthy goal but in reality...often not reached. That is why going into trial is a gamble in lots of cases...a crap shoot.