Can a potential juror be fined for omitting any criminal charges against him on his questionnaire? Also, if the defense or prosecution proves that a potential juror violated court rules by going on facebook and blogging about the case after being warned not to, can they be fined?
I suppose they could be fined. If I were HHJP, I would not want the distraction of dealing with those potential jurors at this point.
BBM
Don't think so: the Defense have to avoid irking the judge with over-objecting otherwise it will become second nature to overrule them.
But even so can it come in by way of ineffective assitance?
(This was about the jury-picking process in which HHJP is forcing the use of strikes before the full panel is known.)
If no one is objecting, it is likely that this process is normal in Florida and/or has been expressly approved by the Florida appellate courts. In which case it would not be ineffective assistance to fail to object.
I really doubt we're going to see much ineffective assistance of counsel with that whole defense team there. They are, as a group, clearly able to provide effective assistance of counsel.
Re THE lady that JA tried to strike yesterday.
If she is really as slow to grasp or comprehend the evidence as she seemed to be about the fairly simple questions she was asked during the VERY long interview, what will happen once she's on the Jury if she just cannot process it all? That would be quite a dilemma, what would the Jury Foreman be able to do about it? Anything?
What if she persists with her "don't ask me to judge others' stance when they are considering the evidence?
She passed voir dire. For the most part what happens behind closed doors in the jury room will never be known to the judge or attorneys. If the other jurors become concerned that she is actually mentally unable to comprehend the evidence or refuses to consider it at all, I suppose they could write a note to the judge and there is some slim possibility that he would remove her from the jury and replace her with an alternate.
Sorry if you have answered this - just so I get it clear since I am still confused - is ICA allowed to keep her defense team as counsel of record and not "standby counsel" so that she can pseudo-testify and do part of the closing argument. That is to say, can Casey Anthony keep her current defense team but present her own closing argument at the same time.
IIRC, Ted Bundy fired his counsel (although AFAIK, the Judge kept them as Standby counsel). So that is not exactly the same as what is being suggested here.
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Out of interest can a person be charged with two contradictory offences (they would obviously have to be pled in the alternative I assume) on the same indictment (i.e. CA being charged with Murder and Perjury on the basis of her testifying she committed murder).
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I do not believe that Casey can act as part of her "defense team." My understanding is that the defendant can EITHER represent him- or herself (perhaps with "standby counsel") OR be represented by counsel.
Yes, you can be charged in the alternative with "contradictory" offenses. You can't be convicted for contradictory offenses, of course.
Sorry for being a PITA, probably asked and answered a bazillion times and since I'm being lazy for not going back to find the answer.....IF KC's found not guilty of First Degree....and guilty of all the rest. I've been looking online for mandatory sentences....found Agg Child Abuse is 15 yr max....Agg Mansl of Child is 60 yr max....the False Info didn't really say much about sentences.
Please correct my figures for Fla, if you will...but....
1) Any guess about the sentences being served consecutively?? (IMO, seems EVERYONE is beyond PO'd with this all, and she just might get her sentence that way.)
2) Anything sticking out so far as to the possibility of her getting the max or min sentence for each of the rest of charges??
3) Is her check fraud conviction gonna REALLY affect the sentencing...or just a drop in the ocean??
4) Finally....would there be any guesses of an average time she'll spend in prison - with the above "IF" not guilty of First Degree....and possibility of parole??
Sorry, again....Please don't beat me!! LOL
I believe aggravated child abuse is 15 years max and aggravated manslaughter of a child is 30 years max. The false information charges IIRC are for providing false info during a "missing persons" investigation, so max penalty should be one year.
She can't be given consecutive sentences for charges that apply to essentially the same act, but IMO could be given consecutive sentences for the false information charges as opposed to the abuse/manslaughter charges, and MAYBE for each of the false info charges separately.
Florida has a "point system" to figure out sentencing. I believe her felony convictions will count significantly toward the number of points, but I don't know exactly how much. I have no guess as to how she would actually be sentenced in the circumstances you describe. Perhaps rhornsby might have a guess, though.
I apologise for being a little slow on the uptake here :blushing: But are you saying that the SA does have another shot at striking this potential juror, even though the judge has already denied a peremptory strike on her?. If I am understanding correctly you are saying here that the judge cannot deny a peremptory strike. If this is the case, then why did he?
I hope I am making sense. Many thanks in advance
I don't think rhornsby realized you guys were talking about the juror for whom the state already tried and failed to use a peremptory strike. They can, I suppose, ask HHJP to reconsider, but there is no reason to think he will do so.
Could someone explain how exactly the backstrike process works?
HHJP said he would start swearing them in one they have reached 15 possible jurors. Will this is be a separate procedure and is backstriking done then or does it have to happen before then?
Backstriking just means saving a peremptory strike and using it after the potential juror is done with voir dire but before the person is actually sworn in.
I don't think there will be 2 separate steps--I think HHJP will say, "I'm going to swear in juror #--- now," and then the attorneys can say, "Hold on, I want to use a strike."