My jury duty story

[twm67]

Over the past 3 weeks, I was part of a jury in Trenton, NJ on the trial of a man accused of a “you gotta be kidding me” crime spree in 2003. He was accused of robbing 3 bodegas / delis over 3 days while wearing a latex Richard Nixon mask and holding a rifle (a BB gun in reality). The 3rd robbery included the use of – wait for it – a Molotov Cocktail.

Later in the day of the 3rd robbery, he was accused of stealing a car and eluding police on a high-speed chase in Trenton.

It was a massive indictment – over 13 counts, and we were passing judgment on 7 counts. The jury selection / voir dire lasted almost 2 days, the trial lasted 3 ½ days, and the jury deliberated for the better part of 2 days, and we ended up deadlocked 11-1 on all counts except for 1 count. It was 12-0 on the count the defendant confessed to in court – the eluding charge.

Oh and did I mention there was a signed confession to the crime spree?

The judge called a mistrial yesterday. Read the details of these stories. See how often you say “you gotta be kidding me!”

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=44551&rfi=8

http://www.nj.com/news/times/regiona...0027142940.xml

What happened? One juror was looking for “100% certainty” (their words) to believe the defendant was guilty of the one key element that would link him to the whole she-bang, and had “asked God in my prayers this morning for help.” After the trial, the judge told our foreperson that the # 1 reason for deadlocked juries is a juror whose religious convictions don’t allow them to pass judgment on others.

(Rant: ON)

If you tell a judge in voir dire that you will be a fair juror and that your religious beliefs will not prohibit you from being a fair juror, and then you pull a stunt like this in jury deliberations – you should be held in contempt of court.

(Rant: OFF)

This juror was completely unreasonable. He had doubts, and every time another juror countered or answered his doubts, he found another thing to debate. This went on for about 3 hours on Tuesday and all day yesterday. The burden in criminal cases to find someone guilty is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This does NOT mean every doubt.

(Rant: BACK ON)

Oh never mind…

(Rant: BACK OFF)