I think we all need to remember any of our own jury experiences. One of my turns at jury duty did involve an accusation of juror misconduct and we were questioned by the Judge, one by one, in open court. I have more respect for our legal system than I can relay to you here, and I answered the Judge honestly that I never heard the other juror discuss the case on her cell phone, at lunch, on the street; I also would have not allowed that to influence my deliberation had I heard it. But I can tell you that if I ever heard or saw anything that would have had the sheerest of hints of impropriety I would have reported it to the Judge immediately. In the huge courtroom, before we were even called in the voir dire, I overheard two comments made by a woman in reference to the defendant who was there to witness voir dire. She already said he was guilty, based on his race and she made a joke about it. I checked her out from head to toe. I made up my mind that if she was called to the box and seated I would get to the Bailiff immediately and report what I had heard. Thankfully she was not chosen and she left. Ultimately we found the defendant guilty, but it made me sick to think that I could be that defendant and THAT woman could have been one of MY jurors. I certainly have no doubt as to what this verdict should be, but I'll fight to the death to see that it's done right and done by the book. There is no constant in that defendant chair. It could be any of us. And we all have the right to the letter of the law.
I won't bash any of the jurors who told the Judge what they heard. It's what they are supposed to do. Am I chapped that a 'guilty verdict' juror might have to hit the bricks? Yep. Am I glad that apparently other jurors are doing the right thing? Even yepper!
