Rittenhouse. Acquitted, Convicted? What if it's neither?

[MineralMan]

I would not be surprised at all if the jury hung on all of the charges. It just takes one juror to hang a jury, and how would it be surprising if there were more than one who refused to go along with the general feelings of the jury?

I was the foreman of a jury that ended up hung. No matter what the jury said in discussions, there were three jurors who were so struck by the color of the defendant's skin that they voted Guilty every last time the jury held a vote. Nine voted to acquit on all of those votes, but those three were dead set on convicting the defendant.

It didn't matter how many times we went over the jury instructions. It didn't matter that what was charged was not met by the evidence. The defendant was a Black man, and that was all those three cared about.

We got sent back into chambers three times by the judge to continue our deliberations, but it still ended as a hung jury.

In the end, the prosecutor never retried the case and the defendant ended up not going to prison after all, but the latent racism of three jurors caused the jury to be hung.

I would not be surprised if there is a hung jury in the Rittenhouse case. Not surprised at all.

[Walleye]

1. I was thinking the same thing. This has hardly been talked about in the media

[MineralMan]

2. Yes. It has been completely ignored.

Whether the majority of jurors think Rittenhouse is guilty or innocent, it is still possible for one or more jurors to refuse to go along with that majority. I think it's quite likely, however the majority of the jurors wants to rule.

[Walleye]

4. Juries can be unpredictable

[MineralMan]

10. Indeed they can.

Once the jury has the case, it can do as it wishes. Instructions from the judge and even evidence can be ignored. Juries often do the unexpected.

[Calista241]

3. Apparently Rittenhouse was very sympathetic to the jury on the stand.

I think it's a hung jury at worst for him. I think there's very little chance they find him guilty.

[MineralMan]

6. I don't know what will happen.

However, it's an odd case in many ways. Personally, I think he's guilty of manslaughter in some degree or another. I'm sure there will be jurors who think the same. Still, there are bound to be some jurors who think what he did was justified for one reason or another. So, I think it's likely there will be an impasse that makes it impossible to get all 12 to vote for either thing.

The politics of it, along with the mood of the country, seem to guarantee that there will not be a consensus, and a consensus is absolutely required of a criminal jury.

[Bev54]

20. Would they get a new judge for a new trial?

I would be ok with that.

[MineralMan]

23. I don't know.

[Tomconroy]

5. Then it will be back to square one and a new trial.

[QED]

7. And with a sane judge.

[aeromanKC]

8. +1000

[MineralMan]

9. Yes. That's correct.

However, there's not always a new trial after a hung jury. It depends on how the vote in the jury room looks. If the jury is more or less evenly divided, there might not be a new prosecution. It might be decided that a hung jury would be the result, no matter how many trials were held. That happens more often than you might think.

And yes, the vote count from the jury gets requested by the judge. The judge uses that to decide whether or not to force the jury to stay in deliberations or to declare a mistrial.

[Tomconroy]

16. Don't know about Wis. Didn't work that way in my jurisdiction

[rsdsharp]

11. Based on his actions to date, I believe that unless the jury finds him not guilty

on all counts, the judge will enter a judgment of acquittal.

[Polybius]

12. When is a verdict expected anyway?

Any chance for today?

[MineralMan]

18. Highly unlikely.

Give it a couple of days.

[PTWB]

13. How do you know?

How do you know that the three jurors who served with you were voting guilty based on the defendant’s skin color?

[MineralMan]

24. Oh, it was quite clear.

I was in the jury room with them for three days. I'm not stupid. When someone says, "You know how those people are," and similar things, it's pretty clear...

[BlackSkimmer]

14. Well, if it's a hung jury, they can bring the case again.

Right?

[MineralMan]

19. Yes, they can.

[BlackSkimmer]

21. Good..

This whole trial,is depressing, on so many levels.

[Johonny]

15. I think he might get off with all first degree charges

I'm not positive about all 2nd degree options.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. Prosecutor made a good closing case today

Rittenhouse had no business being there and armed. But the days of the actual trial, the judge barely let the AD make that assertion. He was there illegally, he had a gun, he was there to cause trouble. He shot someone and then people tried to disarm him and he shot them too.

[BlackSkimmer]

22. I agree. I thought that was an excellent closing statement.

That’s the first time I saw the little punk actually squirm.