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JUDGING_JURIES

                                             October  10, 2012
When I was following the Hans                January   1, 2013
Reiser trial, one of the many
disturbing things about the
process was reading the comments      Another disturbing thing was watching
on the story online at news web       the cops hurriedly release damning
sites: it was pretty obvious          information to press.  How exactly
that nearly everyone posting was      does innocent-until-proven square with
trying to influence the               the police convicting before trial?
jury. Everyone was just assuming      In theory, you're not supposed to be
that the jury would be reading        able to hold a trial without being
what they were saying...              able to find neutral jury members who
                                      haven't prejudged the case... were
    And there were an awful           they trying to make that harder?  Or
    lot of people posting             is that one of the (all too many)
    who had a lot of                  American Ideals that's fallen by the
    knowledge about what was          way-side?
    going on at the trial.            
    I developed a fear that              After the jury turned in a guilty
    the prosecution was                  verdict, Reiser's side bargained     
    running sock-puppets.                (for reduced sentence?) in return    
                                         for revealing the location of the    
                                         body.                                
                                                                              
                                         The judge thanked the jury for the
                                         guilty verdict that gave them the
                                         leverage to make that deal.

                                             On the one hand:

                                             Well, the bastard did it,
                                             they got 'em, justice was
                                             served, however roughly.

                                             On the other:

                                             This is an interesting
                                             attitude toward judicial power.



  A news item, which might be of interest:

  [link]



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