I got to do this once. I look like the type a prosecutor would probably want on a jury and I wasn’t individually asked any questions before being chosen. The case was a non-violent drug offense and it was a wild experience for reasons I won’t get into. Once we got in the jury room it pretty much went like:
“Not guilty.”
“Why not guilty? It’s a pretty clear cut case.”
“I don’t believe the cops.”
“Why don’t you believe the cops?”
“I didn’t find their testimony credible. It didn’t convince me beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“What about the body cam footage? Do you believe that?”
“I didn’t find it convincing.”
“The whole thing is on camera, do you think they faked it all?”
“I suppose that’s a possibility. I just haven’t seen enough evidence to convict.”
“What more evidence could you need?”
“More than this. I’m not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”
And around and around we went like that. I was the lone holdout. I have to say, the other jurors were pretty cool about it. Eventually we had to tell the judge we couldn’t reach a verdict on any of the charges and it was declared a mistrial. Totally worth it.
If people weren’t so bloodthirsty generally and so ignorant of… everything in the US justice system, I suspect we’d see a ton of mistrials and non guilty decisions. People are cucks to power and that’s especially bad when you have overzealous police and prosecutors and legislators all working hand in hand to pass and enforce the absolute most draconian laws possible.
When it comes down to it though, exempting rape, murder, and other personalized violence like that, I think most people fundamentally have the ability to know, despite their inclinations due to the constant propaganda from media and society broadly, that some guy who stole a few thousand dollars worth of shit to sell for drugs doesn’t deserve to be in prison. The shitty thing is our system doesn’t allow for an “actual help” option between essentially pardoning people and letting them go (which I would argue is also “not good” in an example like I gave) and throwing them in prison for years which is a guarantee that when/if they do get out they’ll be going right back in… but given the choice between throwing some guy’s life away, a guy that a defense attorney would explain has already been fucked over thoroughly in life, and giving in to a lone dissenting “not guilty” voter… most people are just gonna go “ok, fine, whatever.”
It’s really sad that proponents of the system push everything to these extremes. You can’t even suggest an alternative world either or everyone loses their mind. Like I’d say there should be absolutely zero punishment for someone being arrested straight up punching the cop in the face. I think people who take super reactionary “no, the cops should kill that guy!” stance to that situation are 1) usually racist as fuck, let’s just be real and 2) have never been arrested themselves and lack the imagination to even think about how they might naturally react to a guy or two grabbing their wrist, pressing a painful pressure point and twisting their whole arm back into a painful position. People getting charges for running from cops, spitting on them, punching, whatever has always struck me as something that if I were ever a judge I’d tell the prosecutor straight up I will never be allowing a case for that shit. So I’d probably be assassinated by the cop union week one.
I got to do this once. I look like the type a prosecutor would probably want on a jury and I wasn’t individually asked any questions before being chosen. The case was a non-violent drug offense and it was a wild experience for reasons I won’t get into. Once we got in the jury room it pretty much went like:
“Not guilty.”
“Why not guilty? It’s a pretty clear cut case.”
“I don’t believe the cops.”
“Why don’t you believe the cops?”
“I didn’t find their testimony credible. It didn’t convince me beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“What about the body cam footage? Do you believe that?”
“I didn’t find it convincing.”
“The whole thing is on camera, do you think they faked it all?”
“I suppose that’s a possibility. I just haven’t seen enough evidence to convict.”
“What more evidence could you need?”
“More than this. I’m not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”
And around and around we went like that. I was the lone holdout. I have to say, the other jurors were pretty cool about it. Eventually we had to tell the judge we couldn’t reach a verdict on any of the charges and it was declared a mistrial. Totally worth it.
o7
If people weren’t so bloodthirsty generally and so ignorant of… everything in the US justice system, I suspect we’d see a ton of mistrials and non guilty decisions. People are cucks to power and that’s especially bad when you have overzealous police and prosecutors and legislators all working hand in hand to pass and enforce the absolute most draconian laws possible.
When it comes down to it though, exempting rape, murder, and other personalized violence like that, I think most people fundamentally have the ability to know, despite their inclinations due to the constant propaganda from media and society broadly, that some guy who stole a few thousand dollars worth of shit to sell for drugs doesn’t deserve to be in prison. The shitty thing is our system doesn’t allow for an “actual help” option between essentially pardoning people and letting them go (which I would argue is also “not good” in an example like I gave) and throwing them in prison for years which is a guarantee that when/if they do get out they’ll be going right back in… but given the choice between throwing some guy’s life away, a guy that a defense attorney would explain has already been fucked over thoroughly in life, and giving in to a lone dissenting “not guilty” voter… most people are just gonna go “ok, fine, whatever.”
It’s really sad that proponents of the system push everything to these extremes. You can’t even suggest an alternative world either or everyone loses their mind. Like I’d say there should be absolutely zero punishment for someone being arrested straight up punching the cop in the face. I think people who take super reactionary “no, the cops should kill that guy!” stance to that situation are 1) usually racist as fuck, let’s just be real and 2) have never been arrested themselves and lack the imagination to even think about how they might naturally react to a guy or two grabbing their wrist, pressing a painful pressure point and twisting their whole arm back into a painful position. People getting charges for running from cops, spitting on them, punching, whatever has always struck me as something that if I were ever a judge I’d tell the prosecutor straight up I will never be allowing a case for that shit. So I’d probably be assassinated by the cop union week one.
So fucking based. I hope to do the same thing some day, but I’ve never been called up for it.