# Jury trials and why it's going to be hard to hold people accountable for right-wing extremist violence **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 1, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656 "2021-11-01T23:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/1 "2021-11-01T23:10:18Z")
The problem we have is that juries _unanimously_ find a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and I doubt that anyone accused of right-wing extremist violence is going to be unfortunate enough to have 12 completely unbiased jurors. There will always be at least one juror who believes that they’re justified, no matter how horrible their crime is. That’s why Trump’s going to get off scot-free for January 6, too, unfortunately. 46.9% of the country voted for him in 2020, and most of them would vote for him again in 2024, while at least some liberals are experiencing buyer’s remorse over Joe Biden. (Personally, Biden wasn’t my first choice; I wanted Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders as president). I find it hard to believe that any prosecutor will be able to seat a jury with no Trump voters on it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/2 "2021-11-01T23:13:27Z")
How was this handled for, say, lynching of black people? I assume the answer was “it wasn’t, and the murderers routinely got away with it” Well that’s fun. It’s the same group, too. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/3 "2021-11-01T23:24:53Z")
That is a problem when political violence has been legitimized. excused, and politicized and not universally condemned. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/4 "2021-11-02T04:19:31Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > How was this handled for, say, lynching of black people? I assume the answer was “it wasn’t, and the murderers routinely got away with it” [Yup.](https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/01/03/getting-away-with-murder) > [@](#): > > During the reign of racial terror that lasted from the end of Reconstruction through the 1950s, thousands of African-Americans were killed by mobs, mutilated, kidnapped from jails and hung from trees. […] > > Many of these deaths have never before been investigated, let alone tried. Sometimes documents listing the perpetrators as “persons unknown” coexist in Northeastern’s archive side-by-side with striking black and white photographs of the murderers posing with the lynched man’s body. In some instances, the perpetrators were tried in pro forma legal proceedings in which all-white juries acquitted them in a matter of minutes. > [@octopus](#): > > That is a problem when political violence has been legitimized. excused, and politicized Which it has been for most of the history of the United States (see above article on racist American lynch mobs and their typical immunity from punishment). I mean, nice try attempting to blame right-wing extremist violence on liberals there, but it’s liberalism which in the past half-century or so has made political violence unprecedentedly de-legitimized. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/5 "2021-11-02T06:28:03Z")
The current trial of the Unite the Right mayhem organizers in Charleston is a civil trial, a lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who were damaged in some way. According to at least some articles I read, they openly acknowledge that their goal is to bankrupt the M-Fers. A civil lawsuit trial like this does not require a unanimous jury. So cases like this have a chance. Criminal trials, like the Kyle Rittenhouse case, are going to be much harder. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/6 "2021-11-02T08:47:48Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The current trial of the Unite the Right mayhem organizers in Charleston is a civil trial, a lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who were damaged in some way. Charlottesville? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/7 "2021-11-02T17:33:01Z")
Yeah. A few have pleaded guilty. But I can’t see any convictions in a jury trial. It could hurt them in other ways, though. Would you hire any of them? If you did you might face a boycott. Some have already lost their jobs. But a few are running for congress or other office. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/8 "2021-11-02T17:46:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The current trial of the Unite the Right mayhem organizers in Charleston is a civil trial, a lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who were damaged in some way. According to at least some articles I read, they openly acknowledge that their goal is to bankrupt the M-Fers. A civil lawsuit trial like this does not require a unanimous jury. So cases like this have a chance I think that trial is in federal court. If so, even if a civil trial, a unanimous jury is required. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-trials-and-why-its-going-to-be-hard-to-hold-people-accountable-for-right-wing-extremist-violence/953656/9 "2021-11-03T02:44:05Z")
I’m feeling cynical enough today that none of it matters. Barring death Trump will be re-elected and pardon them all. 😩