I was on a jury three years ago

[spinbaby]

The defendant was a sovereign citizen defending himself from charges of assaulting a police officer who had attempted to arrest him for drunken driving. The whole thing was actually pretty comical as he stuttered and rambled way through a convoluted argument proving that laws didn’t apply to him.

We found him guilty inside of an hour. Then we asked the judge to hold him until we left because we thought he was crazy enough to possibly be dangerous. The judge obligingly put him in the care of a very large armed guard while we left.

This sovereign citizen was one lone crazy without a large army of support crazies and we were afraid of him. I know that if I had been on the Kyle Rittenhouse jury, I would have been terrified.

[SoCalDavidS]

1. Why Would Someone On His Jury Be Terrified?

They found him not guilty on all charges.

[underpants]

3. They may not go directly to custody

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Terrified of what?

[Srkdqltr]

4. Terrified that if he was found guilty his crazy supporters

Would act out somehow.

[sop]

5. Years ago my late father was on a jury in Miami for a trial involving some cocaine cowboys.

The way the old man liked to tell the story, on the very first day of the trial, after the jury got a good look at the two sleazeball defendants sitting next to their sleazeball lawyer, they all looked at one another and whispered, "guilty!" The jury system isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[meadowlander]

9. I remember some jurors from the OJ trial

saying they voted to acquit because they were sick of being sequestered and just wanted to get on with their lives.

I also sometimes volunteer to sit on mock juries for the local law school students. There was one where a woman who was a writer refused to believe that the defendant could be guilty because "nobody could ever go out and murder someone on the day that they found out their first book was going to be published."

Makes me extra motivated to avoid any possible scenario where I might be put in front of a jury of my peers.

[Disaffected]

11. As well, from two jurors...

"So what if they found DNA at the crime scene, there is DNA all over the place".

"I didn't pay any attention to {the expert explaining the science of DNA analysis to the jury} because I felt she was talking down to us."

When you say your prayers tonight, pray that you are never wrongly suspected or accused of a serious crime. The jury is only part of it - your troubles may well begin as soon as the cops talk to you.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. The OJ verdict is an interesting one.

It happened so fast - like four hours after they were sent off to deliberate. I don't think anyone anticipated THAT quick of a verdict. In fact, most pundits were saying it could take a month before the jury reached a verdict ... and then four hours later, here they were.

So, it would not surprise me if maybe some of the early holdouts just decided to go with the majority and voted to acquit to end things.

Kind of scary if you think about it.

[KentuckyWoman]

6. If I understand your point - I agree.

I don't know if everyplace makes names and addresses of jurors public record. Where I live now, the name and address of jurors are a matter of public record once the trial is over. Meaning the crazy can look you up and make life difficult. The exception being in high profile cases where it was decided in advance to seat an anonymous jury.

I've looked around the web trying to find out if the Rittenhouse jury was given anonymity but my search skills are not the best. If not, I would be saying upfront that I'd refuse to return a guilty verdict, even if I thought he was because of fear of retribution. I did this when called to hear a murder case years ago. I was the first one questioned and after everyone else followed my lead. They realized they won't get a jury without anonymity. It was given, he was found guilty. I was not on the jury. Troublemaker me.

[Elessar Zappa]

7. That's a problem.

People shouldn’t be on a jury if they won’t return a just verdict due to “terror”.

[ret5hd]

8. How would you get a book deal then???

[frogmarch]

10. I think I'd have been terrified too.

I've never been called for jury duty. My husband was several times, but he was dismissed when he let the court know he was related to the defendants. Two had rustled cattle from their neighbor and one, who'd worked for a jeweler and made Black Hills Gold jewelry, stole gold bars by sneaking them out in his boots.

[MichMan]

14. I was only on one once myself

Sort of similar in a way. Man was stopped and ticketed for not having a driver's license. He admitted to not having one and apparently had some dispute with the DMV about having to supply a SS# as he didn't belive the government had any business making you have a SS#. Judge stopped him from going anywhere with that argument.

Since he admitted not having a license and wasn't ever planning on getting one, it seemed like a guilty verdict wasn't going to take very long.

Except for one woman holding out who claimed the constitution gave people the right to travel and no one had to have a license. I asked her if that meant drunk driving was OK since the government can't take away a license if you don't need one, and also if an airline pilot had to be licensed. She looked confused for a minute and just said , "Well that's different ".

Asked her if she had a license, why did she have one, and could we tear it up since she said it wasn't necessary? Finally asked her why the state law that had been on the books since 1940 had never been thrown out before ? Her reply was that the entire court system was corrupt. I finally told her she lied when she told the judge she would rule fairly based on the evidence.

We had to tell the judge we were deadlocked and he was pretty pissed and declared a mistrial. Saw that they retried him a few weeks later and found him guilty. It was a complete waste of time and I hoped I never saw that crazy loon ever again.

[reACTIONary]

15. It wouldn't have even crossed my mind...

... to be afraid. I guess I'm just naïve.

[hauckeye]

16. I was on a jury for an armed robbery case

It was really open and shut. The young man had confessed, the guns and Halloween masks they used were in his car trunk. We found him guilty in a short time. Then his mother started yelling angrily at us in court because we were out such a short time. That kinda scared me when leaving the building. Some of his relatives could have been lying in wait.

[barbtries]

17. I must be reading between the lines.

are you suggesting that the acquittal was the result of fear on the part of jurors?

[spinbaby]

18. I'm suggesting that may have figured into it

I know if I had been on that jury, I would considered the danger to myself and my loved ones if I had been identified after a guilty verdict. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.

[barbtries]

19. okay.

that's how i read it. I suspect we'll never know with this jury if that was a factor or not. I've no doubt that the judge led them to acquit. Maybe they're just all right wing racists. I actually could not watch this trial because just the headlines about the judge's hijinks upset me so much. After 4 years of trump and knowing how important every vote in 2022 will be, I'm taking a sabbatical from the news this year, though of course I cannot escape it entirely and still read DU every day.