DURST JURORS' PICTURE PUZZLE (brain dead mutants junk justice)

NY POST ^ | November 13, 2003 | LESLIE T. SNADOWSKY

[Liz]

Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Robert Durst is photographed under arrest in Galveston Oct. 9, 2001.

GALVESTON, Texas - Of the more than 700 pieces of evidence introduced in the 10-week Robert Durst murder trial, only one thing really mattered to the jury - a timeline they made themselves.

[Ditter]

I hear what you are saying but if either my husband or myself had been on the jury, it would have been a hung jury. Until late in 2001, we voted in Galveston Co. & could have been jurors had this trial happened sooner.

[katnip]

Loved the front page of the NY Post yesterday!

[Ditter]

I heard a person who knew Morris Black, the victim, say that "if you had known him, you would have wanted to kill him too". He (Black) must have been a hateful person.

[Dante3]

Diane Diamond of Court tv apparently also praised the jury.

One of the jurors was asked what she would have done if a lesser charge had been included. Her reply was, "I don't know."

We look sometimes at "Judge Judy," the best sitcom on TV. Yet it is also scary -- because those people get to vote and sit on juries and might even move next door. We can just hope that Scott Perterson and Kobe won't get OJ/Durst juries. It's not just in L.A.

[Ditter]

I think you are right. My gun & chainsaw seem to have minds of their own sometimes just like my SUV.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Yes. We can't be held accountable for the actions of objects.

[Dante3]

In addition to the Durst and OJ cases, I can think of three other crazy jury decisions:

Hinckley's shooting of Reagan was caught on tape. Yet the jury voted "not guilty."

In 1981 well-to-do Steven Steinberg murdered his wife Elana. And he confessed. During trial he reportedly presented the "her shopping drove me to it" and "I've found God" defenses. The jury found him not guilty.

Rae Carruth's jury -- in a decision that boggled the mind -- found him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and of shooting into an occupied vehicle but acquitted him of murder. At least he will do hard time.

Yet it appears to me, and I could be wrong, that judges make even more outrageous decisions that juries. (e.g. the cases of Amy Grossberg & Brian Peterson, the nanny, Terri Shiavo)

[joathome]

I think you misunderstood. I started with "I would have strung up the guy...."

[Conspiracy Guy]

OK sorry. That's why I had the ?'s. I can't read today.

[Eaker]

The photos include Durst's arsenal of weapons - four guns, dozens of bullets, paring knives, hammers, ropes and bow saws.

This is far as I got.

[Dante3]

The NY Post does it again!

[Liz]

Well, there's empty-headed junk justice and then there's "buying" justice." Some of that might have gone on in the list you posted.

[Liz]

In the court of public opinion, Durst has been declared guilty.

Unfortunately, he can still walk the streets looking for more victims.

[Dante3]

Exactly.

[Heyworth]

The whole jury selection process in this country needs to be reworked. The whole notion that we have "Jury Consultants," paid people who help an attorney pick a good jury, is a stunning travesty of the system and I can't believe the way it's just accepted. I like the British system--they call in fourteen people, and unless you're directly related to the defendant, you're on the jury. No questions, no peremptory challenges.

[cyncooper]

I saw some of these jurors last night on the tube. I didn't pay too much attention, but "not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier" did pop into my head while listening to the brief portion I did hear.

[cyncooper]

And here we all thought the OJ jury was the dumbest. The Galveston jurors will go down in history as the biggest dumb bells ever to sit on a jury.

I just remembered part of what I heard them saying on tv last night. Something about it was never proven Durst did the killing. It was pointed out that he had admitted doing the killing and the juror proceeded to spin out some answer that made absolutely no sense.

[Maeve]

OBTW, the Houston Chronicle's (TX Dem party PR outlet) political writer was in a tizzy yesterday defending the jury. About as fired up as he was when he was chastising the TX GOP against redistricting...

Of course he was. Galveston - a lovely city but egads -- a city that voted for McGovern and are now the last monolithic bastion of Democratic control in Texas.

[Maeve]

Self-correction:
Of course he was. Galveston - a lovely city but egads -- a city that voted for McGovern and is now the last monolithic bastion of Democratic control in Texas.

[cyncooper]

Jury duty is akin to voting. If you refuse to do it, you have no right to complain about the outcome.

No one who's ever pulled whatever they could to NOT serve on a jury has any right to complain about the leftovers used from the jury pool....

Well, why you felt that little lecture was necessary is beyond me.