Being on a jury here in D.C. has been a very eye opening experience indeed. & I need to do a better post on what has happened this past week during trial and deliberations when I can.It's crazy... my co-juroros have been taking everything in the opening and closing as evidence even though half of it was never introduced in court (not supposed to do that). I have taken 37 pages of notes, co-jurors haven't even cracked open their books.
And... for the most frightening part... they are VERY racist and quite open about it. ~ yikes.
It is seriously scary to think some peoples lives depend on this process.
7 comments:
That is scary. Who are the racist against? Maybe you should say something.
Would be interested to hear more...!
Tell us more, DEFINITELY!
My first jury duty in DC was for gun possession, black male early 20s defendant, and jury: 6 white, 6 black, 6 men, and 6 women. The case turned on the testimony of the white police office who chased the defendant and saw him toss away a pistol. First vote in the jury pool was 10-2 not guilty; I and one other white guy voted guilty. I was, unfortunately, the Forman and after a few rounds of trying to explore their decision it was pretty clear that they were convinced and stubborn. To me the others' reasonable doubt rationales stretched absurdly the definition of reason – of course the gun could have already been there, except that the officer saw him throw it! Me and the other reasonable guy huddled and decided we were willing to lower our bar of reasonable doubt to the majority of the group. In the courtroom in the moments before it was the foreman's turn to reveal the verdict I was thinking to myself that I was doing the wrong thing and that I had sold out justice because I know to well the futility of making a reasonable argument to an unreasonable person. Saying that not guilty verdict aloud is one of my worst and least proud moments, and I regret it to this day. In the hall after the verdict the prosecutor asked us flat out, “so you didn’t believe the cop?” The was back when I didn’t think being politically correct had gotten out of control and was pussifying American children, so my feeble reply was, “well, we didn’t want to believe one cop.” I felt so used. I had just enabled a punk teen gun totter from northeast to not have to do what could be five years for a gun possession charge. Why? Because I didn’t give enough of a shit to stand up to the 10 unreasonable jurors. Because I didn’t fight to mention that liberal guilt is your to accept and the consequences of succumbing means one more punk gun totter going unpunished and back on the street. Because I didn’t confront the black jurors about how the took an oath and swore to God they did not have any biases, and yet they were exhibiting their races stereotypical mistrust of the police. But I did nothing. And the shame will be with me forever of having to proclaim that clearly-guilty-little-punk-gun-totting-making-DC-a-worse-place-to-live for-everyone-and-getting-away-with-it. Never again will I make that mistake. I wonder if having this on the internet would keep me from ever being picked for a jury again?
Wow. Anon, Now that's a story I bet happens way too often, unfortunately. I ran into the same compromising situation while on my jury and I'm not too proud of it either. After being the most vocal at the start and even convincing some (very easily) to go one way, I ended up being the one who caved most. Like you it is something I will not readily forget.
Holy crap! I just saw your wedding ticker! It is coming up pretty quickly huh?
PS- it's jenn from CGC. I changed spots.
Hello Moxie. I was very interested in reading your blog on jury duty in DC. I came across it as i was researching some information on jury duty for an article that I am writing for school. Would it be possible to have more of your views on the topic and use them in my article? Please contact me at ja0928a@american.edu
Thank you much,
Best, Jihane
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