I sat on a jury a few years ago. It was a case in a small town where the police don’t have a lot to do. They were aware of a party, picked somebody to follow as he left it, found an excuse to stop him, and he “blew over the limit”.
We (the jury) decided for the defense. Without going into long detail, we felt the prosecutor didn’t really make his case.
After we were released by the judge, the arresting officer followed us to the parking lot. Once we were outside the courthouse, he stopped some of us and said “I want you to know that as soon as the jury was taken out of the courtroom the defendant turned and high-fived his buddies and said Let’s go to the bar!”
I said to the officer, “Now there’s nothing illegal about that is there?”
I look over my shoulder all the time now. And I don’t drink.
The policeman was clearly trying to intimidate us, not in an official capacity, perhaps, but he was in uniform and left in a squad car.
Apparently convicting an innocent man is a small price to pay to keep people from going to bars to celebrate a victory over tyranny. Doh! If I weren't afraid he'd do the same to me, I'd have said "Hmmm. That sounds like a great idea. I think I'll join them! Thanks for letting me know!"