I’ve been on three juries. On all of them the trail went pretty quickly, we reached a decision after a few hours of discussion, we gave the verdict, and went home. So I feel that every jury trial I’ve been a part of has worked.
None that I know of. Not that I doubt that it has occured, but I’ve seen evidence of only one case where a key witness recanted his testimony years after an execution, and even then his recant wasn’t such that exonerated the defendent (who was subsiquently executed) but rather something that might have caused the DA not to go for the death penalty in the first place because his evidence would no longer be as strong. I’ve seen websites that list all of the supposed “wrongful” executions in the U.S., and what they call “evidence of innocence” is in most cases a joke. Again, I don’t doubt that it has happened before, but that exact phrase you used- “How many poor people have been executed for murders they did not commit” is thrown around almost as much as “Won’t someone please think of the children” and with about as little basis in fact. What evidence do you have that ANY person has been executed for a murder they didn’t commit, let alone “many poor prople”?
Lissa, do you mind if I quote your post in the future? A more striking example of white person’s guilt I don’t think I’ve ever seen. It’s fascinating, in a revolting sort of way.
Federal juror’s are generally paid more than county or city juror’s, at least that’s my experience in Texas.
I servered on my first jury just last week and was happy with the how seriously folks took the job. It’s easy to judge things based on news reports, but when you’re in the jury, you have to make your decision based only on the evidence presented to you and according to the law as explained to you.
This veers more into the pros and cons of the death penalty which has a number of fine threads devoted to it. FWIW the only mention of “black” in this entire thread is by me and there is exactly one mention of the word “minority” which is used in a general sense by Lissa, one time. I’m not sure what the “white person’s guilt” is about but it looks to me like this is a tangential issue to the OP.
I’m up to 4 cents now 
Well, granted that this could be cast in the light of a DP debate, but the statement I quoted was a direct response to the OP. I’m assuming from the tone that gonzomax does not think the system works, and the reason he doesn’t think so is that “many poor people have been executed for murders they did not commit”. I was challenging that statement.
Oh, and I used the phrase 'white person’s guilt" as a riff off of the phrase from the poem by Kippling.
I remember seeing a short article 10 or even 20 years ago about “the future of court rooms” and it proposed using edited videotapes. The article used several large show trial as examples where the attorneys were clearly playing to the jury - asking irrelevant or inadmissibale questions and then the judge would instruct the jury to disregard them. Whcih of course just brings more attention to them.
The idea struck me at the time as a great idea. Eliminate court room theatrics and yet still have the case decided by a jury. I hope someday to see it happen.
I’ve served on the county trial jury once about 30 years ago. Interesting and somber experience.
You say, “you’re wrong” yet you didn’t elaborate. Why do you think that the U.S. system is working? Is it because there are so many cold cases, or is it because the wealthy get awa with murder?
So, really how common is it taht “the ealthy get awa[y] with muder?” I think you might find that there’s more than a little plea bargaining to a lesser charge (accused pleads to the crime originally charged but is sentenced commensurate with a lesser crime) going on. Oh, and let’s not forget that there’s more than one category of illegally doing away with someone.
Before people complain about the ‘lack of speedy trials’ here in the US, I suggest they took a look at some examples abroad. Japan’s court system makes the US system seem downright speed-of-light fast.
Just to give you an idea, the worst domestic attack in Japan since WWII was the sarin subway attack in March 1995. The leader of the cult group that carried out the attacks was found about two months later.
The first verdict handed down in his trial eas…2004. That’s nine years to reach an initial verdict. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, but of course his lawyers have appealed. He will likely die in prison before the sentence is ever carried out.
A class action suit by people suffering from mercury poisoning in a small fishing village in Japan is still ongoing - in its 35th year now.
Closer to home, my gf’s mother is suing her ex-husband for alimony and child support. The ex-husband beat her and his four daughters on a daily basis for years. The case is in its 9th year; the mother won an initial victory just last year, but the husband has appealed.
People are freaking out that the Duke Lax rape case might not get to trial intil spring 2007. Granted, that seems like an awfully long time to me as well - but cases that get in the public spotlight take longer, I would hope because both sides want to be extra extra sure to not make any mistakes. But the fact that people are upset with the delay tells me that it is the exception, not the norm. This was not the case in Japan, where everybody assumed from the day Asahara was arrested that he would never be put to death by the system, and instead would die awaiting for his trial to finish.
How bad does a legal system have to get before it’s better to have no legal system at all? How close is the US to that?
I’m not saying the system couldn’t stand improvement, but to argue whether or not it’s “working” or “not working” is a bit misleading (or at least imprecise).
How nice of you to say.
I did not want the Lay and Skillings verdicts to pass without a comment here that those verdicts were huge victories for the legal system. Everything that makes the system go wrong was present in the trial of these two men. Still, it did not go wrong.
Unfortunately, they’re there until Bush comes out of office. I smell…pardon.