Predictions on how quickly/slowly the jury will return a verdict?

[dorkzilla]

I feel like this should take an hour tops. I know that's not at all realistic, but hope springs eternal!

So, what say you?

[polichick]

1. It's Friday and they probably won't want to stay the weekend...

So they'll move quickly through things.

[dorkzilla]

2. I agree. But that may just be wishful thinking n/t

[polichick]

3. Maybe, but it all goes so slowly in court...

They actually have had a lot of time to put things together in their minds.

Now they just have to talk it out among them.

[FarCenter]

4. It will take awhile, once they start deliberating.

Last edited Fri Jul 12, 2013, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)

[snooper2]

5. 3, 2, 1....

[HardTimes99]

16. Sexist much? Seriously, FC, you need to self-delete this before someone

alerts on it. (I considered doing so, but thought you should have an opportunity to self delete first.)

[MineralMan]

23. Ah, sexism. How lovely...

Ugh!

[winter is coming]

6. Sometime next week.

I'm thinking the juror with multiple pens and highlighters will want to methodically cover the evidence. Unless they take an initial vote and find themselves in agreement on a verdict, it's gonna be a while.

[awp89]

7. I think they'll be done by the end of the weekend.

While the trial has taken a long time, the actual amount of evidence is pretty small. I don't see it taking that long to cover it all.

[hrmjustin]

10. What do you think the verdict will be?

[awp89]

14. Not Guilty

Looking only at the evidence presented during the trial, the prosecution failed to meet the reasonable doubt criteria.

The prosecution spent too much time presenting multiple possibilities which is typically the job of the defense lawyers. Prosecutors have the burden of proof, the defense only has to provide an explanation that casts a reasonable doubt on the prosecution's theory. With the prosecution presenting multiple scenarios I feel they have presented enough reasonable doubt into the situation themselves.

[hrmjustin]

17. Do you think that Zimmerman was in the right or do you think he was wrong what he did?

Not asking about the evidence presented in court.

[awp89]

32. I'm not really sure.

Assuming that Martin was on top of him and punching him as the storyline has been told, then absolutely. I've never been in a real fight, and I can't imagine that I'd handle being punched in the face very well. I've been told if I ever find myself in a fight to punch the person in the nose, most people will immediately give up once their nose is broken as most people aren't prepared for that kind of pain and the difficulty breathing that comes along with it.

I think we have a classic case of two idiots passing in the night. Zimmerman should have been more aware of his surroundings once he lost sight of Martin (ie: know where he was so he could tell the police and immediately return to his vehicle once he could no longer see Martin), and Martin should have continued on home.

If either of those scenarios had played out, we would have never heard of either man.

[hrmjustin]

44. I think Trayvon was an inncoent in this.

He was walking home and he was accosted by this man. I don't believe a word Zimmerman says.

[premium]

36. I'll give my opinion,

I think he was wrong, he profiled Trayvon, not necessarily racial profiling, but profiled as a criminal, he should have never gotten out of his vehicle, he should have just let the proper authorities handle it.

Now, that being said, IMO, the prosecution miserably failed in proving beyond a reasonable doubt the charge of 2nd Murder and I don't believe he'll be convicted of that charge, and, despite my belief that he may be guilty of Manslaughter, I have my doubts about his being convicted of that lesser included charge.

All my opinion of course.

[hrmjustin]

37. I wish the prosecution was more forceful but I think he will be found guilty of one of the charges.

[premium]

39. If he is,

it'll be, once again IMO, Manslaughter, I'm hopeful, but I have my serious doubts

[hrmjustin]

41. I hope it works out in the end.

[RebelOne]

42. That's my guess also. n/t

[pintobean]

8. If it comes that quickly

it will be not guilty.

[polichick]

9. Yes, if one juror says "I can't convict," that's the end of it.

[Shrek]

11. I agree

If they want to convict, they'll spend some time going over the evidence and deciding which charge will be the basis for conviction.

[premium]

12. Yep,

a quick verdict usually favors the defendant.

[dorkzilla]

18. I just did a quick google search on that

There are many conflicting theories but from what I saw, anecdotal evidence suggests quick verdicts usually predict GUILTY verdicts. Not trying to contradict you, just thought you'd find it interesting.

[premium]

21. Thanks., that is interesting.

I'm just going on my personal experience with criminal trials.

[dorkzilla]

22. That's as good a theory as any! N/t

[pintobean]

29. I think the self defense aspect

doesn't normally come into play. If the jurors all agree that GZ acted in self defense, they're pretty much done.

[dorkzilla]

34. I really thought Guy's rebuttal made the self defense argument look weak

When he pointed out that the police had been called, people were watching from the windows etc, how much fear could he have felt?

[HappyMe]

13. Sunday or Monday.

[ChangeUp106]

15. I feel it will either be very fast or very slow

I know that mind sound stupid but what I mean is that it will either happen by dinner tonight or sometime like next Wednesday. I don't think it'll happen tomorrow.

[cthulu2016]

19. 3-4 hours

[dorkzilla]

20. What do you think the verdict will be? N/t

[Cali_Democrat]

26. cthulu is definitely hoping not guilty.

[OmahaBlueDog]

33. I agree - mostly because it's Friday, however..

... it depends how divided they are. If they are about evenly split, it could take a few days. If it's 0-2 jurors one way, and the rest the other way, they'll have this done by this evening, I think.

[Duer 157099]

24. The only thing a quick decision means is

that the jurors all agreed from the beginning of deliberations. That is all that must happen and it can go either way.

[dorkzilla]

25. That's a very reasonable answer n/t

[Blackford]

38. I would say the longer deliberations go, the more likely they are working on manslaughter

or end up hung.

[redstatebluegirl]

27. While I have not followed the 24/7 coverage

I think he is guilty of being a cop wanabe who shot this kid for no reason except he was afraid of black kids.

[dorkzilla]

30. I think the prosecutions rebuttal was dead on

And I agree with you.

[1-Old-Man]

28. A couple of days. I've served as Foreman of two Juries, I'll tell you how we did it.

First off I may have some sort of record in that I've been called and served six times. Two of those times I was the Foreman of the Jury, which doesn't mean much but it does require that you keep the process orderly and of course someone has to fill out the papers and communicate with the Judge.

The last one I served on would be the best example of at least how I conducted the show. The trial was very nasty, incest over a number of years with two daughters of the defendant. I do not remember how many counts of what the guy was charged, but incest and statutory rape were among them, in total the charges numbered a few over twenty.

The very first thing I did when we got situated in the Jury's room was to simply ask if there was anyone in the room who thought the guy was not guilty. There was not one person who thought he was anything other than guilty of all charges. That took all of 15 minutes, but that's not what the job of a Jury is; the job is to deliberate. So then I acted mostly as MC and scribe as we went over each and every charge individually. Each Juror had their say and each of us voted on each charge. It took us all of two days to do that. In the end there were two charges that we didn't find the guy guilty of because some, though not all, of us saw a conflict in time that made it impossible for the guy to have been guilty of both charges. We didn't know which one he did and which he didn't so we found him not guilty on either of them; there was doubt.

But my point is this - even though it might look cut and dried it still takes time and the defendant absolutely deserves the fair consideration and reflection each and every Juror on every charge.

[Blackford]

35. You describe multiple charges

There are only two potential charges in this case, second degree murder and manslaughter. He'll only be found guilty on one if found guilty at all, so it's actually very binary. IF all the jurors believe he is either guilty of second degree murder or all believe he should be acquitted, it goes fast. It's only if they need to get into some grey areas of disagreement where it gets bogged down in this case.

[Duer 157099]

43. Not only that, this is a sequestered jury

there's no way that doesn't affect how they behave on a Friday afternoon. That is, if they are all in agreement from the beginning.

[darkangel218]

31. Tomorrow morning. If not even today.

[LordGlenconner]

40. Tuesday, at the earliest

No chance it comes today.