I too was on a jury once. The young man was drunk, ran a stop sign and crashed into another vehicle. The jury wouldn't even listen to my side that he was guilty. They yelled and screamed and overpowered my opinion and I let them. All they wanted to do was "go home" and it was only a one day trial. We had to come back the next morning to give our verdict and they were pizzed at that. If I ever get to be on a jury again, you can be darn sure I will NEVER let anyone bully me into keeping quiet again.
The foreman basically told me to "be quiet" that he was in charge and that was that. I was intimidated and too scared to speak up. I've grown up since then and have much more confidence. I wish I had it then.
Very similar to what happened to me about 12 years ago. I was approached on lunch break by a fellow juror who said "I know he's guilty, what do you think?" I said "I think the judge told us not to discuss this..."
She kept at me, though, and I finally had to walk away.
The next day, she tried to get me thrown off the jury. When I was questioned by the judge about her claim that I was getting information while at home (I had written a list of problems/questions about the case, and she said I had done it at home; I explained to the judge that I had written it on the drive in that morning, while stuck in traffic...and they all laughed, because they knew LA traffic...), I was not booted from the jury.
I went back into the jury room, and gave her hell. I didn't think to report her to the judge for discussing the case, but I wish I had. It was a tough few days in that room, lemme tell ya, but I stood solid...there were questions that just weren't answered, and when one juror said "anything this defendant does in the future, that blood is on your head", I felt so bad, because he probably did do something, just not what he was charged with (besides, the LE Detective admitted he'd lied on the stand, *and* had forgotten to Mirandize the defendant)...but still, it wasn't the charge in front of me, and I couldn't bring myself to go for "guilty".
There was another altercation wherein the sherrif's deputy had to be called...an altercation which could easily be construed as a physical assault. I stood up and went to the window at one point, and the foreman got pissed. He "ordered" me to sit down, and delayed deliberations until I would take my seat. I refused, explaining that I could hear quite well from the window, and while standing; that while he may not be, I was totally capable of multi-tasking. He came over to me, grabbed my shoulder, and tried to pull me back to the table.
I am a black belt. He got one chance to stop touching me, and then I forceably (read: he got hurt...) removed his hand from my shoulder. He called the sherrif's deputy in, and after the sherrif spoke with a few of the jurors, instructed the foreman that if I chose, I could charge this man with assault and battery. I declined, because I wasn't hurt, and, while furious indeed, I also figured he learned a lesson (a woman handling herself against a young turk bully like that in front of quite a few others...whaaaaaaa....!!!)
There were a lot of other things which happened, but those were the two "biggies". I stayed undecided throughout, and, eventually, hung the jury. There were two additional folks who hung with me, but they never spoke out. When I asked one why as we walked out, he said "you were taking so much s**t, I didn't want to deal with it..."
Sigh.
There is no doubt in my mind that the jurors here discussed the case. And no doubt, either, that juries will bully holdouts, that deliberations are not actually deliberations but peer-pressure events. I lost 10 pounds in the 4 days we deliberated...
My case ended in a hung jury and a mistrial. But I'm a very different kind of sort, and will, quite literally, fight for things I believe in...and a proper jury, as afforded by our constitution, is one of them.
Would I serve again? Yes. Will I go through hanging again if need be? Yes again.
Do I think the jurors discussed Casey? Absolutely. Do I think the verdict was right? No. I think that there is a lot of stuff which goes on in a jury room which will never be brought to light, and for that, I am sorry.
Just my opinion/thought/experience...
Best-
Herding Cats
