Jury selection in the murder trial of a Florida man was interrupted when a potential juror said a witness in the case had once shot her.
As a Jackson County, Florida, prosecutor was asking potential jurors in the trial of Howard Sullivan if any of them knew potential witness Lionel Crawford, a woman raised her hand and said the man had once shot her but was never prosecuted, The Panama City News Herald reported.
Circuit Judge William Wright excused the juror and allowed her to leave the courtroom, the newspaper said.
Authorities allege Sullivan, 23, of Marianna, Fla., killed or was involved in the killing of Roger Donell Horne, 51, who was slain during a home invasion robbery last year. The News Herald said five people were arrested in the case.
Got to remember this one.
Shouldn’t the prosecutor be asking to throw out the whole jury pool, since they now are prejudiced against his witness?
I asked my psychiatrist to write a note to excuse me from jury duty because of a medication change and my sister just dying. The clerk of court wrote back and stated my name was pulled from future duty due to mental and emotional instability. I’m glad I’m off the duty list, but have always wondered what he wrote in that letter.
You don’t want me on your jury.
There is one sure fire way to get out of jury duty, claim hemorrhoids. Of course some gay lawyer will want to have a look.
Easy solution: have a lot of cops in your family.
I’ll never serve on a jury because my father was a cop, grandfather was a cop, godfather was a cop, uncle was a cop, aunt was a sheriff’s deputy…
Defense attorneys will strike you from the list in a heartbeat.
In the cartoon, the blonde guy wearing sunglasses must be Adam Curry.
I just tell the truth: it is my strong considered opinion that everyone in the system lies. LIES all the time. The system is based on and lubricated by LIES!! Once I even got to say that the judge doesn’t lie as much as he is totally biased by supporting the police all too often.
I have always been asked if I can override that opinion and render an opinion based on the facts presented. I respond that part of the facts presented are necessarly the CREDIBILITY of the witnesses and that I could try but all too often might arrive at jury nullification.
I am always removed for cause but not cited for contempt.
Silly system.
#7, bobbo, the unAmerican,
I’ve never been called, let alone do my duty as a proud American. I would do it proudly too. The one question I would present to the prosecutor though would be “is jury nullification illegal in this State?”
🙂
Oooh fusion, you got my juices flowing. Not a good American. Not by most definitions, but very compliant by others. Probably depends mostly on what kind of music is playing in the background?
Haven’t thought about it. I would think jury nullification is “legal” in every state because of the bar against double jeopardy. Still, it is not allowed and if a judge becomes aware “somehow” that a jury member/entire jury plans on “not following the law and the instructions as given by the judge” I would think a mistrial before the jury votes would be mandatory.
Pro’s and con’s. I actually think a bit more jury nullification than we currently have (near ZERO right?) would be worthwhile. We just need to stop well before anarchy.
My father had just died, when I got my jury notice the next day. And my mother can’t safely drive their car anymore. So I do all driving for groceries and doctor visits. Plus my mother’s knee gave out during the outing to buy flowers for the funeral. So, after burial, I managed to get the family doctor to declare me the primary caregiver. And it’s true, as I’m the only one living in the same county, that she can count on 24/7. But there was no official form, that I could discover. So the doctor’s secretary had to type up a one line page that he could sign. Three days before the appearance date, I was finally notified that I was excused. But it didn’t sound permanent. Like, they’d be after me again in two years, just in case my mother health miraculously improved, or I won the lottery and could afford to hire an attendant for her, or she went into a nursing home, or she kicked off. Nice compassionate bureaucrats, eh?
Lately, I’ve had doubts about the jury selection system. First, I haven’t voted in years, because I no longer believe the in the two party system. And it use to be that non-voters weren’t called for jury duty. But apparently, my state suffered from a too depleted pool because of this. So the law got changed to any licensed driver was eligible. In fact I was first called on, just weeks after renewing my license. But the thing is you don’t really get paid $15 a day for this. That’s not a legal wage. That just covers the expensive of travel, and perhaps a meal. So you’re basically working for the County for free. And you didn’t volunteer for this. So it’s not like you said it was OK not to be paid and to interrupt your real job at any time. Essentially you’ve been drafted for a few days, or longer. It’s the longer part, that always worries me. One never knows how long these cases could drag on. The McMartin preschool trial in California, ran for something like three years!! Check in out on Wikipedia. I wonder how many jurors they went thru in that time? Meanwhile, the lawyers and judges all get paid handsomely, regardless of the outcome. While the jurors get squat for having to listen to all their legal mumbo-jumbo, day after day. But I guess they can’t spare the tax money to actually pay anyone, who isn’t legally trained. And those all get excused from this duty. Along with most politicians, doctors, priests, military personnel, multi-millionaires, people over age 75, and/or blind, and/or deaf, and Quakers.
So, want to get off jury duty permanently? Become one of those, and you’re set for life. And if it’s such an honor and civic duty to be a juror. Why all the exceptions? I understand George Bush got out of it once, in 1996. He wasn’t president at that time.
#9, bobbo, my favorite unAmerican,
I would think a mistrial before the jury votes would be mandatory.
True. Only because you have prejudged your vote. The duty of a jury is to hear all the evidence before forming any opinions.
But a REAL American will report for jury duty and do his duty. To make up some bullpoop story in an effort to not sit on a jury is so, well, typically Republican. Just ask if jury nullification is legal if you have more important things to do.
😉
For folks that don’t understand
jury nullification, see
fija dot org.
If you don’t nullify bad law,
you send the escaped slave back
to the master.