Going overboard protecting the accused?

[whitehall]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

 

[Againsheila]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

That's what I used to think, until my son, who's severely autistic and never registered to vote got a jury summons....

I have no problems with sequestering the jury, I do think that they should be paid whatever money they are losing from their job rather than the going rate, which is think is about $5 a day. I do not think we can pay too much for justice. In general, I don't think we've spent enough on it. Pay the judges less, the jurors more. That income gap is shameful in the richest country in the world.

 

[TheBrain]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

Incorrect. almost every state and the federal government draw their jury pools from motor vehicle registrations.

 

[Againsheila]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

Incorrect. almost every state and the federal government draw their jury pools from motor vehicle registrations.

My autistic son doesn't drive either, although we did get him an id card...hmmm. And that's makes it even scarier since up until recently our state gave licenses to illegal aliens.

 

[TheBrain]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

Incorrect. almost every state and the federal government draw their jury pools from motor vehicle registrations.

My autistic son doesn't drive either, although we did get him an id card...hmmm. And that's makes it even scarier since up until recently our state gave licenses to illegal aliens.

Perhaps I misworded that since state IDs come from the DMV, in most states I'm not sure about ALL states, so they to are in the jury pool.

 

[George Costanza]

In California, they used to use voter registration lists, but they found that the lists were way too small, compared to DMV lists, so they switched to DMV lists.

 

[whitehall]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

Incorrect. almost every state and the federal government draw their jury pools from motor vehicle registrations.

I think you have "motor voter" registration confused with jury selection lists brain. The "Jury Selection act of 1968" mandates that every US District Court create a list of names of prospective jurors culled from voter registration lists.

 

[uscitizen]

Ohh I thought this thread was about Bush apologists.
Sorry.

 

[whitehall]

Ohh I thought this thread was about Bush apologists.
Sorry.

Jeez (phony?)US citizen, why do you keep interrupting discussions with nonsense and apologizing? Are you the autistic kid they were talking about earlier in the discussion?

 

[Luissa]

Protecting the rights of the accused(innocent until proven guilty) is the reason why we are a civilized nation.

 

[konradv]

The jury in a Pinellas County Fla murder case will be sequestered for the entire murder trial of a woman who is accused of killing her 2 year old daughter. The trial is expected to last at least three months. They will be transported a hundred miles under armed guard and locked in a hotel without being able to watch News programs or read newspapers for the entire duration. Have we gone overboard in protecting the rights of the accused? Aside from the expense to the county in a downturn economy the jurors will be away from their jobs and their families for the entire time under guard just as if they were convicted of a crime. No wonder people don't register to vote anymore, that's where they get the jury selection.

Incorrect. almost every state and the federal government draw their jury pools from motor vehicle registrations.

I think you have "motor voter" registration confused with jury selection lists brain. The "Jury Selection act of 1968" mandates that every US District Court create a list of names of prospective jurors culled from voter registration lists.

They do it by DMV lists in MD. I think you're confused. US District Courts don't do murder trials. That's the states' jurisdiction. That's why the the Feds had to prosecute people for civil rights violations, when local courts let killers walk.

 

[whitehall]

I stand corrected, Florida changed it's method of jury selection from voter registration to motor vehicle lists. Federal courts still use voter registrations. We got side tracked on the point of the post though. Jury members can be treated as second class citizens by judges who are afraid of being reversed. More money for jurors is only part of the problem. The compensation has to come from taxpayers in a depressed economy. How do you compensate a person for being in virtual isolation for four months and being away from their family? What about his/her employer? If they are a small business it can get tough. The point of sequestering is the assumption that the jury's decision will be influenced by the media. I think this assumption is an overblown opinion by judges who are desperately afraid of having a reversal by an appeals court which might interfere with their political careers.

 

[konradv]

I stand corrected, Florida changed it's method of jury selection from voter registration to motor vehicle lists. Federal courts still use voter registrations. We got side tracked on the point of the post though. Jury members can be treated as second class citizens by judges who are afraid of being reversed. More money for jurors is only part of the problem. The compensation has to come from taxpayers in a depressed economy. How do you compensate a person for being in virtual isolation for four months and being away from their family? What about his/her employer? If they are a small business it can get tough. The point of sequestering is the assumption that the jury's decision will be influenced by the media. I think this assumption is an overblown opinion by judges who are desperately afraid of having a reversal by an appeals court which might interfere with their political careers.

There are ways to get out of jury duty, if there's hardship involved. Regardless of whether they're sequestered or not, they still wouldn't be working. Being influenced by the media seems like a small point, until you happen to be the one they're talking about. Just because someone was arrested, doesn't automatically mean they're guilty, so they deserve a fair shake. It's a rotten system, I know, but it's the best we've got.(Apologies to Curchill, I think )

 

[whitehall]

I stand corrected, Florida changed it's method of jury selection from voter registration to motor vehicle lists. Federal courts still use voter registrations. We got side tracked on the point of the post though. Jury members can be treated as second class citizens by judges who are afraid of being reversed. More money for jurors is only part of the problem. The compensation has to come from taxpayers in a depressed economy. How do you compensate a person for being in virtual isolation for four months and being away from their family? What about his/her employer? If they are a small business it can get tough. The point of sequestering is the assumption that the jury's decision will be influenced by the media. I think this assumption is an overblown opinion by judges who are desperately afraid of having a reversal by an appeals court which might interfere with their political careers.

There are ways to get out of jury duty, if there's hardship involved. Regardless of whether they're sequestered or not, they still wouldn't be working. Being influenced by the media seems like a small point, until you happen to be the one they're talking about. Just because someone was arrested, doesn't automatically mean they're guilty, so they deserve a fair shake. It's a rotten system, I know, but it's the best we've got.(Apologies to Curchill, I think )

How far does the "fair shake go"? American courts bend over backwards to insure that the accused get a fair shake. Does a "fair shake" extend to the good people who serve on the jury being in a virtual lockup for the length of time it takes for the trial? How can it not be a hardship to be bussed a hundred miles away from your family and held in isolation for almost half a year?

 

[Wiseacre]

I stand corrected, Florida changed it's method of jury selection from voter registration to motor vehicle lists. Federal courts still use voter registrations. We got side tracked on the point of the post though. Jury members can be treated as second class citizens by judges who are afraid of being reversed. More money for jurors is only part of the problem. The compensation has to come from taxpayers in a depressed economy. How do you compensate a person for being in virtual isolation for four months and being away from their family? What about his/her employer? If they are a small business it can get tough. The point of sequestering is the assumption that the jury's decision will be influenced by the media. I think this assumption is an overblown opinion by judges who are desperately afraid of having a reversal by an appeals court which might interfere with their political careers.

There are ways to get out of jury duty, if there's hardship involved. Regardless of whether they're sequestered or not, they still wouldn't be working. Being influenced by the media seems like a small point, until you happen to be the one they're talking about. Just because someone was arrested, doesn't automatically mean they're guilty, so they deserve a fair shake. It's a rotten system, I know, but it's the best we've got.(Apologies to Curchill, I think )

How far does the "fair shake go"? American courts bend over backwards to insure that the accused get a fair shake. Does a "fair shake" extend to the good people who serve on the jury being in a virtual lockup for the length of time it takes for the trial? How can it not be a hardship to be bussed a hundred miles away from your family and held in isolation for almost half a year?

I hear you man, but justice has to be about more than money or inconvenience. Your justice sysem should bend over backwards to ensure citizens get the fairest trial possible. It's part of the price you pay to live in a place where we try hard not to convict the innocent.

 

[Againsheila]

I stand corrected, Florida changed it's method of jury selection from voter registration to motor vehicle lists. Federal courts still use voter registrations. We got side tracked on the point of the post though. Jury members can be treated as second class citizens by judges who are afraid of being reversed. More money for jurors is only part of the problem. The compensation has to come from taxpayers in a depressed economy. How do you compensate a person for being in virtual isolation for four months and being away from their family? What about his/her employer? If they are a small business it can get tough. The point of sequestering is the assumption that the jury's decision will be influenced by the media. I think this assumption is an overblown opinion by judges who are desperately afraid of having a reversal by an appeals court which might interfere with their political careers.

There are ways to get out of jury duty, if there's hardship involved. Regardless of whether they're sequestered or not, they still wouldn't be working. Being influenced by the media seems like a small point, until you happen to be the one they're talking about. Just because someone was arrested, doesn't automatically mean they're guilty, so they deserve a fair shake. It's a rotten system, I know, but it's the best we've got.(Apologies to Curchill, I think )

How far does the "fair shake go"? American courts bend over backwards to insure that the accused get a fair shake. Does a "fair shake" extend to the good people who serve on the jury being in a virtual lockup for the length of time it takes for the trial? How can it not be a hardship to be bussed a hundred miles away from your family and held in isolation for almost half a year?

Well, I can't speak for everybody, but in my case, I'd consider it a vacation.

 

[Skull Pilot]

It's time we had professional juries. The last thing i would want is some idiots in my town passing judgment on me.

 

[whitehall]

It's ironic that the accused can make bail but the jury is under house arrest for the entire trial.

 

[ROBESPIERRE]

The entire question as to why juries get sequestered needs to be asked.

How does cutting off a jury from the outside world help them come to a more just opinion? The entire practice of jury sequestering should be banned. If a jury cannot be trusted after seeing the news, they can't be trusted anyway.​

 

[ROBESPIERRE]

It's time we had professional juries. The last thing i would want is some idiots in my town passing judgment on me.

I cannot agree more with the idea of only allowing well educated and carefully screened professionals act as jurers, but the Contitution garantees that the acused has a right to be judged by his peers. Maybe each acused should have the option of having either an ordinary jury put together at random, or a group of trained law professionals call the judgement.​