Under Obama we won’t need juries. If the person is Republican he’s automatically guilty, if a Democrat, he’s innocent.

zmdavid on November 8, 2008 at 11:24 AM

I sure hope your a democrat,if not I think you may be going to a “RE education camp”.
^ 5

To much TV. To much time on the internet, terrible public education and never having to deal with real problems and avoidance of consequences.

Lord Judge did have a better point about one potentially destructive effect of the Internet. A conviction got overturned in the UK because a juror started researching the case on his Blackberry rather than rely strictly on the courtroom presentation of evidence. Twenty years ago, judges instructed jurors not to read the papers on high-profile cases. Can a juror resist the temptation to Google his case in the off hours of the trial and find unsubstantiated information that could poison the verdict?

Whether or not a juror can resist the temptation is beside the point. Jurors are not supposed to delve into media and the principle is the same whether or not the technology changes.

The “internet generation” is no less capable of serving jury duty. This is just old people being cantankerous.

I wish I could agree with you.

Seriously, I read at least two articles that break down to this every day. It’s sad. You’ve got old men scared by video games, scared by the internet, scared by cultural changes caused by technology, and generally confused by things they intentionally ignored finally entering their world in a way they can no longer ignore.

Until they pass laws or set policy to back up their idiot ideas I’m in favor of ignoring them. Eventually they’ll be replaced by a new crop that will be fine until something else crops up that they don’t understand. I’m sure my generation is no less immune to it then there’s is… we’re just still too new to be confused by the “new” thing.

I guess the family of a person who was killed through the fault of someone else is not entitled to compensation. The kids can starve while the tortfeasor can go on living his fat comfortable life.

Uh, my example wasn’t about that, it was about a guy suing a homeowner because he locked himself in the garage. The lawyer ended up with 6 figures. The jurors got 9 bucks a day.. How is that fair?

Not all lawsuits are frivolous

.

Agreed

Not all lawyers are unethical.

OK, I know I’m dealing with a small sample, but the overwhelming number of lawyers I’ve met ARE unethical. Sorry, but when you run into it time and time again, you start to see a pattern. The current way that jurors are paid really irritates me. The “We can get you money” ads on television irritate me. The lawyer legislators who have mucked up our constituion (ie BarryO talking about changing from a negative to a positive consitution irritates me). The corruption I have seen with my own eyes irriates me.

But thank you for demeaning me and my profession. What great thing do you do to contribute to society?

HawaiiLwyr on November 8, 2008 at 1:19 PM

If you are one of the honest lawyers out there and aren’t abusing the jury system as a means of finding indentured servants to grab 6 figure settelments, If you aren’t a lawyer-legislator who creates increasingly byzantine laws so that lawyers are required, if you reject frivilous lawsuits then I apologize and applaud you.

As far as what I contribute let’s say I won’t post my resume here but I can look in the mirror each day and be more than comfortable.

I’m not as sure as I once was that isolating a jury is the right thing to do.

With indoctrinated young voters, and 12 mil. illegals to be made citizens by the “False One” – it looks like a rough road ahead.

I recall going to an older friend’s house near the courthouse for lunch, since she lived about cross corner from the courthouse then. I had to keep my mouth SHUT about anything I heard; but I always wondered about the other jurors. Did they give in to the temptations? The guy was convicted and sent away for quite a few years, and if an appeal was filed, it was denied. What would have happened if this trial had happened now, I wonder? Would I have had the strength to stay off the internet during the trial? I don’t know, and hope to never find out (although with our small jury pool anything is possible, I suppose).

I think a pervasive amoral value system or relativistic world view has a greater impact on sounds judgment.

bullseye on November 8, 2008 at 12:56 PM

I guess the family of a person who was killed through the fault of someone else is not entitled to compensation. The kids can starve while the tortfeasor can go on living his fat comfortable life. Not all lawsuits are frivolous. Not all lawyers are unethical. But thank you for demeaning me and my profession. What great thing do you do to contribute to society?

If they have all the testimony at their fingertips, jurors would be more efficient (and more accurate in their verdicts?).

tommylotto on November 8, 2008 at 11:25 AM

Nope. Less efficient. The live time transcripts provided to some attys has not been proof read. The court reporter always has to clean it up. Also, all the questions that were objected to and stricken and the court admonished the jury to disregard would have to be edited out. Also, the transcripts aren’t supposed to be used to replay the entire case which is what some of the jurors would use them for do.

Today, jurors google. Before, they called up their wife’s cousin twice removed who was a cop and got his opinion. Nothing new about jurors not following simple instructions.

We get something like 9 bucks a day. There was a case where some scum sucking bottom feeding ambulance chasing parasticial lawyer sued a homeowner because his client locked himself in the homeowner’s garage WHILE BURGLARIZING THE HOUSE…. The idiots on the jury gave a 6 figure award.

So, while you are getting 9 bucks a day some schmucko ambulance chaser is playing the lawsuit lottery jackpot bingo game.. “If you were injured, I can get you MONEY.. You don’t pay until we win”…

SOrry your honor, I don’t think I’ll make a good juror. The biggest dirtball non paying clients I have were lawyers. A lawyer tried to rip off a disabled relative of ours for ten grand. I was involved in a lawsuit and got ripped off by three lawyers in a row. I was part of a group that managed to get one of two corrupt state supreme court justices thrown off the bench… Any questions your honor??

Oh, by the way, the state senate in our state pushed for a huge pay increase “For the Judges”… Guess what, one of the state senators pushing that is a senior partner in one of the largest slip and fall trial lawyer partnerships in the state.. “Pssst judge.. before this case begins let me remind you who gave you that big raise”

Lawyers like smoke and mirrors and BS. If you want to give the lawyers and judge a coronary just mention the Fully Informed Jurors concept.. Stand clear though because it will get messy when their arteries burst.

cheers

I once had a domestic violence case in a very PC town. The majority of the jurors argued the woman asked for the beating. They kept mentioning her physical ugliness. Apparently, PC goes out the door when faced with an unattractive woman.

All europeans are a bunch of cowards and dogs specially France and Spain; soon they will be take over by the islamic bastards.

tocoloro on November 8, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Thank you for sharing your reasoned and balanced opinion with us. It obviously is the result of your intimate knowledge of all 450 million Europeans, specially the 105 million Frenchmen and Spaniards (who will soon be take over by the islamic bastards).

Read the ‘facts’ on HA.

There seems to be a problem with those square pegs in round holes.

[/sarcasm]

ptet on November 8, 2008 at 12:15 PM

Our US Treasury is teaching Sharia right now. Was in Washington Post. Not sure if credible though. Wouldn’t put it past them.

tocoloro on November 8, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Is why I am afraid for our Country too.

Gosh, I don’t know.