Would you trust this jury?

[Harry Potter]

It is sad when juries believe CSI is a real thing:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1467632.htm

[JB]

This's been going on for a while.

People don't know how the legal system actually works, so they assume what they see on TV is accurate.
Perry Mason had similar effects.

[Harry Potter]

Not comforting. 

[Crazy Cooter]

It is if you're commiting the crime.

White collar crime goes relatively unpunished anyhow.  Look at Martha Stuart.  If she had jimmied open a door and did what she did, she'd be in prison for 10 years.  What's worse, the theft or jimmying the door?

Look at the Tyco execs that stole over $600 million and manipulated the stock price.  They don't even have to pay all the money ack (not that they really could, but they should have been told to).

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050920/BIZ/509200340/1001
"The men, who were immediately ordered into custody, will be eligible for parole after serving eight years and four months."

White collar crime pays.  It pays big.

[NoOne=NBA=]

What do you expect?


The last time I showed up for jury duty, they eliminated anyone with:

Managerial Experience
Military Background
Friends in Law Enforcement

This was BEFORE telling anyone what type of case it was.
Once they found out that it was a statutory rape case, many people who had been molested, knew someone who'd been molested, or had children, removed themselves from the jury pool.

That left a bunch of people that had trouble getting past the "want fries with that" stage of their career to actually BE the jury.

[shmokes]

White collar crime goes relatively unpunished anyhow.  Look at Martha Stuart.  If she had jimmied open a door and did what she did, she'd be in prison for 10 years.  What's worse, the theft or jimmying the door?

Don't get me wrong.  I believe that rich people largely get a free pass in our justice system, and I hate that.  But I hate seeing misinformation like this spread so widely.

Martha Stewart was not convicted or even charged with insider trading.  The $40,000 she made, or rather avoided losing, likely through insider trading, was not an issue at her trial.  Prosecutors didn't believe they had enough evidence to go after her for that.

Martha Stewart was tried and convicted for obstruction of justice because she lied to law enforcement officials.  Half a year behind bars and half a year of home arrest isn't all that unreasonable for lying to the police to protect a friend.

[Crazy Cooter]

That's what kept her off the hook for the rest of the stuff.

[ChadTower]

shmokes, stop spewing hateful facts and vicious truths around here.  Facts and truths have no place in this forum.  You should know this by now.  Shame on you.

[elcapitan]

A prosecutor acquaintance of mine told me they only take cases to court if they know they can win them because juries can be so unpredictable.  There's always someone willing to sit on their hands and acquit because the defendant is X (white, poor, black, rich, etc).

Unless you've got a video of the crime being committed it's a hard win. (*cough* rodney king *cough*).

[DrewKaree]

shmokes, stop spewing hateful facts and vicious truths around here.  Facts and truths have no place in this forum.  You should know this by now.  Shame on you.

so I'm still in the clear then, right?

[shmokes]

shmokes, stop spewing hateful facts and vicious truths around here.  Facts and truths have no place in this forum.  You should know this by now.  Shame on you.

sorry

[Stingray]

Imagine a jury not wanting to convict without tangible evidence. The nerve.

-S