[Star Traveler]

You said -- "Because they were told that the judge would not accept a hung jury. They were not strong enough to stand up for the principles."

And if I was on that jury, I would "hang that jury up until Kingdom come..." I'll guarantee you that. I'm probably the kind of juror that most lawyers will want "off" the jury -- depending on what they want to accomplish. I wouldn't listen to judges or lawyers.

Regards,
Star Traveler

[processing please hold]

That's exactly what I would have done too. Nothing and no one would have made me go against what I thought was right.

[Jeff Head]

...and IMHO, you don't have to. As a citizen it is your job to judge the perpetrators, and the law. Juy nullification is a principle that was understood by those who framed our nations laws...but is forgotten and looked badly upon by many lawyers today because it threatens far too many of them who have forgotten what their real job is.

In this case, having read all of the accounts, and being more than favorably disposed towards the agents to begin with...I have to say that they opened the door for a guilty finding by their own actions to cover up the shooting, and the inconsistancy of their stories in the process.

It is sickening that our government would use an abject criminal to make this point, and to offer him amnesty for his own illegal acts. In any case I believe that too be a travesty...but the agents bear responsibility for making all of that possible.

If they had simply reported it, they would not be in this fix. That they didn't and the way they went about not reporting it and covering it...makes them look far more guilty than they are, and gave the prosecution the opening. IMHO, at the later date, they should have taken the suspended sentence plea bargain I heard they were offered.

If Bush does contact these families...maybe that will set the stage for a presidential pardon at the end of his term.