Poll the Jury!
Thanks to this article that Alaskablawg posted about, I will always poll a jury that convicts one of my clients! That just goes to show that the one in a million shot pays off sometimes (I'm guessing about one time in a million--ha!).
As a side note, I once had the almost opposite experience where a jury went from 10-2 for acquittal to 12-0 for conviction in about an hour. That really, really sucked.
As a side note, I once had the almost opposite experience where a jury went from 10-2 for acquittal to 12-0 for conviction in about an hour. That really, really sucked.
posted by 123txpublicdefender123 at 1:28 PM
1 Comments:
Given that this is an old post, it's quite likely that there will be no response. Nonetheless:
Is it possible to poll the jury confidentially? If not, why not? Jury deliberations are secret -- if one juror is intimidated, coerced, or worse by another juror or jurors, yet still harbors reasonable doubt, that intimidation etc. will still be effective if the juror is known to the other jurors. A second or third juror for the minority might, privately, agree with the single juror, but be unwilling to become a target of the majority's wrath.
I seem to remember a case where a juror in a one-member minority relented, despite misgivings, because the 11-member majority wanted to be home in time for dinner.
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