This Steams Me
I'm sure you have all caught the story that 2 of the Michael Jackson Jurors now regret their vote to acquit. Eleanor Cook was quoted as saying about the other jurors: "They can be as angry as they want to. They ought to be ashamed. They're the ones that let a pedophile go".
No lady, YOU let a pedophile go if you feel that he was guilty. And you and your fellow juror are simply cowards if you didn't stand up for yourselves and vote your convictions at the time you could. You voted to acquit something like 12 times. Don't tell us now that you were somehow coerced into it.
Funny what a book deal can do to a person.
No lady, YOU let a pedophile go if you feel that he was guilty. And you and your fellow juror are simply cowards if you didn't stand up for yourselves and vote your convictions at the time you could. You voted to acquit something like 12 times. Don't tell us now that you were somehow coerced into it.
Funny what a book deal can do to a person.
posted by stewdog | 10:31 AM | Permalink
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5 comments
5 Comments:
Exactly, Stewdog -- and I'd say that anyone who buys their books is coming from the same "idiot pool" that the Jackson jury was taken from.
The flaw in the jury system in modern day america is that 'normal people' can find a way for a trial of 5 to 10 days, but the long trials that make it into the news are all decided by people who have no jobs, are retired, are state employees with big budgets for long jury duty stints, or just nut cases who really, really WANT to sit on the jury. Hence, we see the logical 3rd act playing out.
Any of you Rumpusers ever sat on a jury? I never have and wonder what it is like. I was called once, but there was no action between Christmas and New Year's Day. Duh. I found it awful just sitting in the jury pool room one day and can't imagine what it would be like spending months there.
I've been called many times, but lawyers are rarely left on juries. It is a waste. I was an alternate in a criminal case once, but otherwise haven't made the cut.
It is a distasteful duty, but one that I feel must be embraced to keep our system working.
I served on a jury here in D.C. a couple of years ago. (If you live here, you will get called eventually, and lawyers aren't automatically exempt; many are asked to serve.) It was a four-day case involving a guy who had violated the conditions of his parole by leaving a halfway house. His attorney literally had no defense, and even the elderly black juror who was reading a book about African-American jury nullification declared the guy guilty.
It's common here in D.C. for people to discuss the 'right" things to say in order to get out of jury duty: for example, lying and saying that your friendship with a recent victim of a violent crime means you can't possibly be impartial. Jury duty is pretty boring, but I'm disturbed by widespread jury-duty evasion, especially when those same people complain about outrageous jury verdicts elsewhere.
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