Criminal Trial

[pop pop]

Have any of you guys ever been in, or sit on a jury during a criminal trial? if so, what were your thoughts on how it proceeded. 

[Darrell]

I've sat on a couple, and hope never to be called again. The legal system has supplanted the justice system, I'm afraid.

[pop pop]

I too, after my time on jury duty, did not want to serve again, however did learn a lot when I served.  Was on 1 criminal attempted 2nd degree murder case to the end. I believe that was the charge. It was an eye opener for me. 

What do you mean by Supplanted the justice system. To supplant is to take the place of, however in what way Darrell? 

Edited Saturday at 09:36 PM by pop pop

[Jeb48]

I have been called a bunch of times and served on 2 cases.  One case was settled before we had to make a decision the other was very obvious to anyone that understood what was physical possible but we still had one hold out for awhile that agreed the defendant was innocent but thought the plaintiff still deserved a settlement.  Both were civil cases.  I made it to the jury gallery during selection 2 other times in criminal cases.  The first one they asked what my occupation was and when I said engineer they dismissed me, someone told me defense lawyers don't like logical thinkers.  The second I didn't really wasn't to server on and tried a few the answers I thought would get me off and non worked then they asked if I knew anyone that had been an innocent bystanders in an armed robbery and I did.  A friend had been in a gas station/store when it was robbed and made to lay on the floor.  I was dismissed, a deputy came up to me and asked my friend's name and he also knew him and recognized the robbery as I described it.  I guess it was to close to what the defendant was on trial for.

[Darrell]

1 hour ago, pop pop said:

What do you mean by Supplanted the justice system.

One of the trials I sat on was a murder trial. The murderer was an attorney who had killed his wife. HIS attorney told the jury that they would not present a defense, but that it was the job of the prosecution to prove that the man had killed his wife. They actually did present a defense, but it was based on drug use, primarily.  Apparently his attorney was really good, and just before we adjourned to deliberate, a mistrial was declared. I read in the paper that the murderer's second trial was for 2nd degree murder, not the 1st degree that he was originally tried for. And in the end they made a deal in which he pled to manslaughter and he got a slap on the wrist. That whole thing really soured me, as it was plain to me that the man killed his wife deliberately, yet through clever legal manipulation he was able to avoid the just punishment he deserved.

In a second case it was clear to me that some of the potential jurors really wanted to be on the jury, enough so that they were not, perhaps, entirely honest in their answers during voir dire process. One of those jurors decided that she didn't want to trust a witness's account because she didn't like his neck tie. Another became quite distraught as she wasn't sure that she wanted to be responsible for sending a man to prison. I found the whole thing disgusting.

After that, I did something like Jeb, above, and before selection I make sure to tell the judge that I am a believer in the principle of jury nullification.  That's a sure-fire way off a potential jury.

Don't misunderstand, juries are very, very important in our system. I hope other thoughtful, objective people will serve faithfully. But my cynicism of the process makes me unsuitable.

Edited Saturday at 10:46 PM by Darrell

[monkeylizard]

6 hours ago, Darrell said:

I've sat on a couple, and hope never to be called again. The legal system has supplanted the justice system, I'm afraid.

Yep. A person gets exactly the amount of justice they can afford.

[Thearmededucator]

I haven’t yet, but I believe jury duty to be more important than voting. 
 

I also know that juries are typically made up of those people who are too stupid to get out of it. 
 

So I must beseech yall, don’t let them do it to us. When we abandon jury duty, we yield our society to our inferiors. 

[Alleycat72]

Several. 

Murder, DUI, assault, and civil. 

Love it.

Edited yesterday at 11:27 AM by Alleycat72

[pop pop]

I too was amazed by the people they picked for the jury. Had a property title lawyer on our jury who knew nothing about criminal and a couple others who seemed to just take up space in the air. Juries are supposed to be made up of peers but the way they nullify prospective jurors is amazing to me. It seems lawyers want certain kind of people on juries and pick through them not getting real piers. The only way I got on was the prosecutor run out of people he could kick off the jury. 

This poor guy on our trial was in a real predicament. During deliberations just about everyone in the room said the old guy's lawyer was a total waste. His witnesses were the old guy's family members. They all had been in trouble with the law before this trial. No neighbors or any other witnesses. Deputy testified several cars(neighbors) drove by and both neighbors on both sides of the house were watching, but they called none of them. That is what made me realize one had better have a good lawyer and your own investigators in your corner if you are forced to do something defensively. The defendant's lawyer did tell the judge he was unprepared, but the judge went on with the trial. 

When I went into this, I knew nothing about criminal trials. Our case took 5 days with us deliberating late on Friday night to get finished before the weekend. Our jury, and not his lawyer's skill, brought an innocent verdict for the old man. One of the jurors asked the DA why this trial was brought in the first place. He told him he did not like self-defense cases and would try and prosecute all he could. 

It was a real eye opener for me. Monkeylizard is totally correct when he said, "It comes down to you have as much justice as you can pay for." Boy Howdy, oh so right. If you don't have a big bank account one had better have some kind of financial backup if one ever goes to trial. 

[Pain103]

I have served on jury duty multiple times and participated in jury trials as prosecution witness. Everyone is afforded the right to a trial by jury, doesn't mean you should always take it. Honestly, if something happens and I have to be a defendant in a trial I would probably go bench trial instead. No matter what you say 12 strangers staring at you are going to form opinions good or bad and I wouldn't want that to be what the decide my fate on.

[Thearmededucator]

9 hours ago, pop pop said:

"He told him he did not like self-defense cases and would try and prosecute all he could."

This alone is why I have my opinion on jury duty. Most people only know of the law what they see on leftist television shows. Gentlemen, DO NOT let these people be arbiters of Justice

Edited 14 hours ago by Thearmededucator

[Alleycat72]

Multiple times I've been undecided until the defendant took the stand. In all but one case, it hurt their case. If the jury doesn't like your lawyer, you're in trouble. I've seen people base their decision on that. Took hours longer than it should because they didn't want the layer to win. I was on one where a lady was attracted twice by the same woman in 5 minutes. Once as she was leaving the area. She was charged because she was on the other person's property, left when asked, but won the second fight. Two people wanted to send her to prison. They couldn't point out a single law she had broken. 

I was on one were a guy misplaced his axe in someone's skull. That was a huge lesson. We roll played that murder. We realized that some information was not giving to us and the prosecutor had been dancing around that information the entire time.

[Grayfox54]

I got called once for a murder trial. From what they told us in Jury selection, I gathered that the defense was gonna dispute the arresting officers. One of the questions asked was "Do you personally know any Police Officers?"

I raised my hand and was asked who do you know? I said "Most of the Bartlett Police Department. I fix their patrol cars."

Dismissed! 

[deerslayer]

Between what I do at work and crimes committed against me and my family, no defense attorney will ever allow me to serve on a criminal case.  That is quite a shame, because I would be the fairest, most by-the-rules guy there.