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Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)

62. Have you ever been on a jury panel or selected for a jury? It's hard to get what you want.

Sun Jul 14, 2013, 09:49 PM

Jul 2013

If you have, then you know that it's hard to find poor people and/or minorities (who are much represented in the "poor" category) who don't claim the hardship exemption for sitting on a trial that may last a while. They don't get paid while on a trial and would maybe not be able to make their rent payment, if they got picked for a trial that lasts weeks.

If you don't have a lot of Af. Americans on the panel, it's hard to get one on the jury (and you have to fenagle that...you can't say it's because of race; that's against discrimination laws).

I just ran across that a few months ago. On a panel of 36, there was only one Af. American. In a county with a healthy minority population. The panelists are chosen from voter registration rolls.

So it's not as easy as you think. There's a reason these were mainly women, and 1/4th of them were not employees (one was retired...another ...I forget, but I don't think she had to work every day).

The way it works is you get a certain # of panelists that you can strike without giving a reason. Then you have a certain # of them that you can excuse, but you have to give a valid reason. So you end up picking the worst ones to get rid of, and you're left with what's left. They are usually the quiet ones who didn't say anything to make a lawyer want to get rid of them. The other side can object to the ones you want off the jury, so you don't necessarily get all the ones off the jury that you want.

In other words, you don't pick the ones you want, exactly. You pick to excuse the ones you definitely don't want.

In that community, I don't think there's a large Af. American population. That's what I've read. So there probably weren't many on the larger panel that they had to choose from.

But I hope you're not saying an Af. American would have voted guilty just because of his race. I hope that's not true. Just like I hope it's not true this jury voted not guilty because they're white.

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I blame the prosecution. [View all] yardwork Jul 2013 OP

I agree with you. The jury selection wasn't good enough. In_The_Wind Jul 2013 #1

Message auto-removed Name removed Jul 2013 #24

Hello ~ ZEROzipNADA. It's not about the ethnicity of the jury. It is about ... In_The_Wind Jul 2013 #30

The prosecution was lazy notadmblnd Jul 2013 #2

I agree about the jury. Many seemed to think Laurian Jul 2013 #3

And we keep hearing how the South has Skidmore Jul 2013 #4

I do, too, they did a piss poor job of pointing out inconsistencies Warpy Jul 2013 #5

I think the fix was in katmondoo Jul 2013 #6

Another poster in a different thread made a good point Blue_Tires Jul 2013 #7

To be fair, their witnesses were terrible LittleBlue Jul 2013 #8

Then the prosecution should have prepared more carefully. yardwork Jul 2013 #19

The prosecution destroyed their own credibility pintobean Jul 2013 #9

That was a weak example of Zimmerman's lies anyway. That's what I mean. yardwork Jul 2013 #16

It wasn't a weak example of anything pintobean Jul 2013 #25

My point is that it was a minor issue to focus on anyway, while ignoring big glaring issues. yardwork Jul 2013 #33

The jury had no credibility. They're the ones who blew this case. Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #36

So we're assuming shit about the jury now? OwnedByCats Jul 2013 #37

You just assumed a whole lot of shit about those women!!! Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #39

I said they FOLLOWED THE LAW OwnedByCats Jul 2013 #41

Did you have any problem with the profiling in this case? pintobean Jul 2013 #42

Are you talking about the way Zimmerman profiled Trayvon?? Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #43

No, it is about how you profiled the female jury n/t Lurks Often Jul 2013 #46

Because they weren't white?? Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #49

And what does the President have anything to do with this thread? Lurks Often Jul 2013 #51

No shit. And 3 of them had recently moved there. B2G Jul 2013 #45

I think there was a major irony recognition failure pintobean Jul 2013 #50

You're the one who said it, so you have to own it. Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #53

No problem. I own everything I posted in this thread pintobean Jul 2013 #55

You own everything you ever posted here!!! Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #56

Yes, we all do pintobean Jul 2013 #59

They had to answer every element of Z's story hack89 Jul 2013 #10

There were lots of inconsistencies and obvious lies in Zimmerman's story. yardwork Jul 2013 #12

Those " inconsistencies" and "lies" are obvious to you hack89 Jul 2013 #28

You tell me how Zimmerman pulls that gun out from under him. yardwork Jul 2013 #32

I wasn't there hack89 Jul 2013 #35

The PROSECUTION acknowledged that Martin struck Zimmerman Lurks Often Jul 2013 #48

That's exactly what I'm talking about. yardwork Jul 2013 #52

If you are depending on race instead of evidence... Pelican Jul 2013 #11

If you think that all black males are violent, drug-addled killers then you live in a prison anyway. yardwork Jul 2013 #13

WTF are you talking about? Pelican Jul 2013 #15

Trayvon had a bag of Skittles and a drink and the evil ove had a gun. Your going to tell me the evil hrmjustin Jul 2013 #14

I'll say that Zimmerman has been determined to be "Not guilty" Pelican Jul 2013 #17

Do you think Trayvon started it? hrmjustin Jul 2013 #18

Hell if I know... Pelican Jul 2013 #20

This whole thing is a miscarriage of justice. hrmjustin Jul 2013 #21

and? Pelican Jul 2013 #22

And it must be proclaimed loudly here and elsewhere. hrmjustin Jul 2013 #23

And some here don't give a damn, but continue on supporting a cold hearted killer who has lumpy Jul 2013 #31

Nobody is supporting GZ by supporting our OwnedByCats Jul 2013 #40

I would add that I think the police mishandled the affair from the beginning making it byeya Jul 2013 #26

Correct. Letting this killing go 40 days without a thorough investigation helped to let Zimmerman lumpy Jul 2013 #34

I think they overreached. lumberjack_jeff Jul 2013 #27

I'm with you on this. The witness preparation was abysmal. GiaGiovanni Jul 2013 #29

As a trial lawyer, I can tell you that you can only COLGATE4 Jul 2013 #64

I can see how doctors would be arrogant enough to ignore your advice GiaGiovanni Jul 2013 #65

The ME did seem to have an inordinately high opinion of COLGATE4 Jul 2013 #66

I Blame Guns otohara Jul 2013 #38

The prosecution had no case. Vattel Jul 2013 #44

No evidence that Zimmerman attacked Martin? yardwork Jul 2013 #47

I mean attacked as opposed to defending himself against an attack. Vattel Jul 2013 #54

The approach I thought they'd take would be to compare Z's story vs the evidence Benton D Struckcheon Jul 2013 #57

Exactly. yardwork Jul 2013 #60

I blame, in order of importance Revanchist Jul 2013 #58

Jury selection, maybe... Punkingal Jul 2013 #61

Have you ever been on a jury panel or selected for a jury? It's hard to get what you want. Honeycombe8 Jul 2013 #62

The judge overruled the prosecution wanting to remove two mzmolly Jul 2013 #63