NG Verdicts. Jurors' Explanations?
I don’t think anyone on here thinks the state had a slam dunk case, and I would argue most cases brought to trial aren’t. I certainly don’t agree with the threats being made against RA if he is acquitted, that’s just wrong and uncivilized.
You are right that if the Jury finds RA not guilty it means they have reasonable doubt/believe the state didn’t prove their case BARD. That is the high burden the state must meet/standard of our judicial system. Not sure if what you said about people need to understand that if a jury of his peers finds him not guilty means he’s not guilty, are you saying you believe that means he’s truly factually not guilty/innocent of these murders,
or not guilty in the court’s eyes because the state failed to prove their case BARD? Hopefully that makes sense the way I asked.
IMO, a not guilty verdict does not mean RA is truly factually not guilty/innocent. To elaborate, some jurors might feel that he probably is guilty but the state didn’t prove it/present enough convincing evidence BARD for them to vote to convict. It might not be common or ever talked about as we don’t always hear from jurors after trials, but imo it is not unheard of. Case in point, a case I followed of a former LEO brought to trial for the murder of his wife who supposedly died of suicide according to him and his Defense team (I forget his last name but first name was Levi), was found not guilty at trial and afterwards some Jury members were interviewed on National TV, Dateline I believe, and said although they believed he likely did kill his wife they could not vote to convict based on the state’s case/evidence not reaching the BARD threshold. You could tell from the way they described how conflicted they felt and their body language and expressions that they struggled greatly with their decision to let a likely murderer go free, but in the end said they had to follow the law and vote to acquit based on the state not proving their case to them BARD. It was heartbreaking to watch and I hope I never have to be on a jury deciding someone’s fate.
Unless there is video of a person committing murder which we know rarely if ever? is the case, imo most cases are brought to trial on mostly, if not all, circumstantial evidence and tons of cases have ended in guilty verdicts based on totality of circumstantial evidence alone.
As for the court of public opinion, it obviously isn’t a court of law and everyone is entitled to own opinion and imo even if there was actual video of a person committing murder, some people still wouldn’t believe the person/perp caught on video committing the murder did it, so there’s that.
Having said all that, I have utmost respect for the jurors and will accept and respect their decision.
IMHOO
ETA-punctuation
@fcavanaugh Thx for your post discussing possible interpretations of a not-guilty verdict.
You mentioned a case in which jurors gave explanations about their reasoning for a NG verdict, despite thinking def't Levi likely/probably killed his wife.
Not trying to encourage discussion in THIS thread about details of a case other than RA's trial, but perhaps this is the case you thought of?
Levi Chavez - Wikipedia
"Levi Chavez is a former police officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was charged with the 2007 death of his 26-year-old wife, Tera Chavez. In August 2013, Chavez was acquitted of the murder charges."
Naturally WS has threads on Levi Chavez. Thread @2 starts during 'Verdict Watch' for his trial, so might be good to read, discuss there.
Not trying to encourage discussion in THIS thread about details of a case other than RA's trial, but perhaps this is the case you thought of?
Levi Chavez - Wikipedia
"Levi Chavez is a former police officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was charged with the 2007 death of his 26-year-old wife, Tera Chavez. In August 2013, Chavez was acquitted of the murder charges."
Naturally WS has threads on Levi Chavez. Thread @2 starts during 'Verdict Watch' for his trial, so might be good to read, discuss there.
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Thread 'NM - Tera Chavez, 26, found dead in her Los Lunas home, 22 Oct 2007 - #2'
Jul 15, 2013
thefragile7393 said:
Except in OJ's case....5 hours after over a year of testibaloney.
Right! I'm sure there are many others but C Anthony sticks in my head. Didn't one of the jurors want to wrap the trial up so that he/she wouldn't missed the cruise they had planned? G Zimmerman is another, though I didn't follow that one.
CUCKOOHEAD Replies: 535 Forum: Past Trial Discussion Threads
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[ETA: Sorry, tried to post only the link, but more came w it]
BTW, making no comment on, comparison to, or prediction re RA.