Posted on 08/07/2002 7:08:12 PM PDT by FresnoDA
"It looks BAD for your boy, DW.." she said to me.
Propoganda machine is working. Thank you, Judge MUDD..you've made San Diego LE proud to call you one of their own.
sw
I haven't heard anyone on tv discuss it, but I think Feldman is arguing not just for a hung jury, but for jury nullification. I would think all of us are against that practice, and would consider it an obvious act of desperation by any criminal defense lawyer.
I've got to admit, as a long time military wife, and [very]generally speaking, I tend to think "if the bastard has been brought to trial, he's guilty." That surely colors my opinion in this case, as does the fact that Feldman reminds me of those rabid Clinton defenders who spent their professional careers denying that Clinton's a womanizer. Against all reason, against all logic, and with no shame, the same trait I see in Feldman.
But no matter how this turns out, it's been an interesting trial to follow, and even more interesting to read the opinions here.
Well, aren't you the snide one? Dusek was twisting and turning facts in his closing arguments with the fake emotion of a Clinton. It was sickening to see him defend the disgusting Van Dams. I believe that Westerfield will be found not guilty or there will be a hung jury. I think Feldman did a damn good job.
And you're not alone in thinking Feldman did a good job. Some CourtTV talkers said his closing demeanor is standard for him, his style. One said, it's not phoney, it's the real Feldman. Since some of the CourtTV talkers regard Feldman so highly, it must have been successful in the past.
But since you did......I'll go tit for tat. Why is it that people like yourself can't understand that we try people before a jury because we cannot trust that law enforcement automatically arrests the actual perp every time?
You say
"I tend to think "if the bastard has been brought to trial, he's guilty."
which shows you are not even fit to serve on a jury. So much for your opinion.
Oh and by the way........I'd love for you to look in the faces of families whose loved ones have later been proven innocent after spending years in prison and speak of the wisdom you believe you possess.
Arrested and held over for trial = guilt??? Hmmmm.......that's intelligent. You better hope you are never arrested for something you didn't do.
Start with Dale Akiki, an innocent man who's politically motivated accusation kept him in jail for TWO years. Thank God he is a free man today.
Then look into the case of Stephanie Crowe.
After that, see if you can find any information on the father that was CONVICTED of raping his daughter some 8-10 years ago and was later exonerated by DNA evidence. I can't remember his name, but he was a naval officer.
I happen to have close family that is LE, but it doesn't blind me to the fact that LE and DA's are just as flawed as any other group in society.
I bet there is no one more anxious to see a guilty verdict than one Paul Pfingst and it has nothing to do with whether or not Westerfield is the right man.
Judge Mudd has told the Juror's to pay attention to body language and demeanor of the witnesses. Is he asking THEM to use "special abilities"? Are we supposed to be different?
I WAS born into the Military..married a Military man, spent my entire life moving from one country to the next...one town to the other. But I never was taught to believe "if the bastard is brought to trial, then he must be guilty"...I only have the Army and Air Force as models. I must have missed something?
On my own, I have decided that not only is Mr. Westerfield, NOT guilty, but that the parents and their friends had more than ample opportunity than DW to cause harm to the child. The whole lot of them were sleeze, at best.
Oh, and excuse me, for even thinking that because they are the VICTIMS they could also be the perps. [Whatever the verdict, I will always hold the parents Culpable for her death].
I'll even go out on a limb to say, that the word GOD was never spoken in the Van Dam house-hold, except in vein...they didn't belong to any church, untill a Defense Fund was set up for Danielle.
Yes, YaYa, there are many good people on this forum who are blessed with special gifts from GOD to discern if a man is guilty or innocent. These are gifts from the Holy Spirit..you want to laugh about it, go ahead.
You came in way too late for this Party. How easy it is to jump in with an opinion at the very end, when we've been at this for over 6 MONTHS. So you are WITH the majority of the MEDIA who do have an agenda going on here. But the rest of us, well, we're Jesus freaks?
Most of us have come to realize that the Jury is probably going to find him guilty. Doesn't mean we think he is.
Feldman is a DEFENSE attorney, BUT if you want a good example of what a Clinton Defense team looks like, just tune into Court TV and Nancy Grace and the rest of the Liberal Pukes.
Westerfield did something right in his life, at least he voted Republican.
sw
I haven't heard anyone on TV discuss it, but I think Feldman is arguing not just for a hung jury, but for jury nullification. I would think all of us are against that practice, and would consider it an obvious act of desperation by any criminal defense lawyer. | |
Some 30 odd years ago a 12 year old girl, about 4'2" tall, was abducted and repeatedly raped. She was left for dead in a ditch, nude and bleeding. She managed to crawl to a house not far away. The lady called the police. The girl was able to identify her attacker. He was 6'4" tall and weighed about 200 pounds. As it turns out, the attacker was only 14 years old. Since he was a juvenile, he was not incarcerated, but instead was required to have psychiatric treatment. He decided he didn't want to go and simply quit. Nothing was done about it. Meanwhile the girl is having operations to repair her insides, and is not doing a very good job of coping with simple day to day activities. Her father took his gun, got in his automobile and drove to the boy's house. He was outside with about 4 or 5 of his friends smoking dope and having a good time. The father walked up to him, introduced himself as the girl's father and said you are going to die. He pulled the trigger and shot him. His defense attorney begged him to plead temporary insanity. He refused. He said, "I did it. I knew what I was doing and I'd do it again if I had to." He was given a long prison sentence. (don't remember how long) His wife divorced him, his daughter was never quite right again. If I had been on that jury, I would have never sentenced this man to prison. No I'm not against the practice of jury nullification. It has it's purpose.
JURY NULLIFICATIONJuries originally were introduced into England to protect the individual from the tyranny of government. The first case in which juries nullified a law was that of William Penn and William Mead in England in 1670 The jurors refused to convict the two Quaker activists charged with unlawful assembly. The judge refused to accept a verdict other than guilty, and ordered the jurors to resume their deliberations without food or drink. When the jurors persisted in their refusal to convict, the court fined them and committed them to prison until the fines were paid. On appeal, the Court of Common Pleas ordered the jurors released, holding that they could not be punished for their verdict. Jury nullification was introduced into America in 1735 in the trial of John Peter Zenger, Printer of The New York Weekly Journal. Zenger repeatedly attacked Governor William Cosby of New York in his journal. This was a violation of the seditious libel law, which prohibited criticism of the King or his appointed officers. The attacks became sufficient to bring Zenger to trial. He clearly was guilty of breaking the law, which held that true statements could be libelous. However Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, addressed himself to the jury, arguing that the court's law was outmoded. Hamilton contended that falsehood was the principal thing that makes a libel. It took the jury only a few minutes to nullify the law and declare Zenger not guilty. Ever since, the truth has been a defense in libel cases. Several state constitutions, including the Georgia Constitution of 1777 and the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 specifically provided that "the jury shall be judges of law, as well as fact." In Pennsylvania, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson noted, in his Philadelphia law lectures of 1790, that when "a difference in sentiment takes place between the judges and jury, with regard to a point of law,...The jury must do their duty, and their whole duty; They must decide the law as well as the fact." In 1879, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted that "the power of the jury to be judge of the law in criminal cases is one of the most valuable securities guaranteed by the Bill of Rights." John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court stated in 1789: "The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy." Samuel Chase, U. S. Supreme Court Justice and signer of the Declaration of Independence, said in 1796: "The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts. " U. S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said in 1902: "The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact." Harlan F. Stone, the 12th Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, stated in 1941: "The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided." In a 1952 decision (Morissette v United States), the U. S. Supreme Court recognized the powers of juries to engage in nullification. The court stated: "Had the jury convicted on proper instructions it would be the end of the matter. But juries are not bound by what seems inescapable logic to judges....They might have refused to brand Morissette as a thief. Had they done so, that too would have been the end of the matter." In a 1972 decision (U. S. v Dougherty, 473 F 2nd 1113, 1139), the Court said: "The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge." Likewise, the U. S. Supreme Court in Duncan v Louisiana implicitly endorsed the policies behind nullification when it stated: "If the defendant preferred the common-sense judgment of the jury to the more tutored but less sympathetic reaction of the single judge, he was to have it." In recent times, the courts have tried to erode the nullification powers of juries. Particular impetus for this was given by the fact that all-white juries in the southern states refused to convict whites of crimes against blacks. As a result there is a practice of judges to incorrectly instruct the jury that the judge determines the law, and that the jury is limited to determining the facts. Such an instruction defeats the purpose of the jury, which is to protect the defendant from the tyranny of the state. Judges or expert witnesses can determine the facts better than juries can. The purpose of the jury is to protect the defendant from the tyranny of the law. The problem with the all-white juries that refused to convict whites that committed crimes against blacks was not in jury nullification, but in jury selection. The jury was not representative of the community and would not provide a fair and impartial trial. In recent years, jury nullification has played a role in the trials of Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, DC for drug use, Oliver North for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair, and Bernhard Goetz for his assault in a New York City subway. In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo highlighted the difference between justice and law. The jury's responsibility is to deliver justice, not to uphold the law. Judges in Maryland and Indiana are required by law to inform the jury of its right to nullification. Article 23 of the Maryland Bill of Rights states: "In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the judge of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction." Nullification applies just as much in other states, including Pennsylvania. Article I of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania states in Section 6: "Trial by jury shall be as heretofore (emphasis mine), and the right thereof remain inviolate." Section 25 states: "To guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government and shall forever remain inviolate." Taken together, these two sections mean that juries shall have the powers that they had "Heretofore." i. e. when the Constitution was adopted. Judges usually do not inform the jury of this right. Even worse, some judges instruct the jury that it does not have the right to interpret or nullify the law, but only to determine the facts. |
|
Visit: Freeper Tips and Helps for posting photos, links and other HTML goodies. "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.