Free Republic

Numerous defense attorneys representing January 6 defendants are perplexed in discovering that potential jurors are being recalled or “recycled.” On Sept. 5, a day after Labor Day, defense attorneys discovered their potential jury pool consisted of jurors who were excused the week before. “I have never seen this in all my years of practicing law.” defense attorney Steven Metcalf fumed while exiting the federal courthouse after jury selection of Zachary Alam’s trial.”Are there any jurors left in DC? What is going on here?” The Gateway Pundit sat as the lone observer in the courtroom for nearly the entire duration of...

Surely, Timothy Litzenburg is a wealthy man. As one of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys suing Monsanto over the alleged (but factually incorrect) claim that its product Roundup (glyphosate) causes cancer, he likely has had several nice paydays in recent years as the company has been slammed with one jackpot verdict after another. Lawsuits have cost its parent company, Bayer, billions of dollars. The trouble with money, however, is that no matter how much you have, you never really have enough. You always want more. Litzenburg wanted more, too, and he knew just how to do it. After seeing how easy...

With three conservatives and three liberals signing on to the originalist ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana, we see more evidence that the 'living Constitution' school of thought is in decline. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that for defendants to be convicted of crimes, juries must decide their guilt unanimously, not by a simple majority or any other fraction. If that seems obvious, it may be because in the federal judiciary and the courts of 48 states, this is already the law and has been for a long time. Oregon and Louisiana were, until this week, the only outliers. In applying...

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that defendants in criminal trials can only be convicted by a unanimous jury, striking down a scheme that has been rejected by every state except one. The court said in a divided opinion that the Constitution requires agreement among all members of a jury in order to impose a guilty verdict. "Wherever we might look to determine what the term 'trial by an impartial jury trial' meant at the time of the Sixth Amendment’s adoption—whether it’s the common law, state practices in the founding era, or opinions and treatises written soon afterward—the answer is...

We’ve reported on states changing laws to allow felons to vote. Then you’ve got California releasing murderers because it “feels right” to give them another chance. Now, in another sign that the inmates are running the prison, the governor of California has approved “The Right to a Jury of Your Peers”. It’s a move that will allow people with a prior felony conviction to serve on juries in California for the first time. Prior to this, there was a law in California that excluded felons from jury service. Local media backed the legislation ... The state Assembly approved the legislation...

California State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has introduced legislation (SB 310) that would put convicted felons on juries. Current law bars ex-cons from serving on juries—a practice that Skinner calls “profoundly undemocratic.” “I am ashamed that it has taken so long for my Party to realize that routinely excluding victims of the justice system from playing a role in the judicial process is wrong,” the Senator asserted. “Who among us is better suited to assess whether others should be subjected to the brutality of our prison system than individuals who have had to endure it themselves?” “The criminal element is...

The state of California has made no secret that it wants to let as many people out of prison as possible. From the early release of inmates through AB 109, to filling parole boards with felon friendly commissioners, to decriminalizing a litany of felonies and drug offenses with Props 47 and 57, Sacramento lawmakers are bending over backwards to dramatically reduce the state’s inmate population. Despite all of these efforts, the number of inmates hasn’t dropped dramatically enough to satisfy the state’s ruling Democrats, so they’re kicking tires on a new approach — rigging the jury system so no one...

For the second time in five years, Sergey Aleynikov was convicted on charges of stealing confidential computer trading code from his former employer, Goldman Sachs. The first time it took a federal jury just hours to convict; this time it came after more than a week of deliberation and an accusation of “food poisoning” and avocado tampering in a state court jury room. A jury on Friday convicted Mr. Aleynikov on one of the counts he faced but found him not guilty on another. They deadlocked on a third count against Mr. Aleynikov, who smiled nervously after the decision was...

Brooklyn’s courthouses are being rocked by the “Williamsburg Effect.” The influx of well-off and educated white people to trendy neighborhoods such as Williamsburg is rapidly “gentrifying’’ the borough’s jury pool — and transforming verdicts, lawyers and judges told The Post. It’s good news for prosecutors in criminal cases — and bad news for plaintiffs in civil lawsuits, they said.

The response was predictable, even to those who had maintained hope for a different outcome. After the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin, many cities erupted into protests of what was perceived as a fundamentally unfair and racially-biased verdict that was the result of a broken justice system. Among those protesting that Zimmerman should be punished, some admitted that the flaw was actually found within the Florida law which departs significantly from the common law by allowing individuals who initiate confrontations to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to escape. Florida's Stand Your...

The acquittal of George Zimmerman, like the O.J. Simpson acquittal years ago, calls into question the validity of the jury system. Perhaps it’s time to replace it with panels of legal experts or with a smart computer like Watson, the world champion of chess and Jeopardy. The practice of asking peers, or jurors, to sit in judgment has been around since ancient Greece and Rome. This was to provide a check and balance against tyrants or government-sanctioned officials. It was devised to tap collective wisdom as opposed to allowing one individual to determine the fate of another. Unfortunately, juries fall...

What happens when African Americans don’t get a jury of their peers? While the unquestionably unfair verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, rendered in Florida by five whites and one Latina, should be deeply troubling to persons of all races who care about racial justice, U. S. history, as well as the current racial reality in this country, teaches that it should not come as a surprise. The jury, simply put, decided that a white police wannabe could justifiably profile an unarmed African-American 17-year-old as a criminal, hunt him down, and fatally shoot him. Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump likened...

To hear it from pro-life advocates watching the Kermit Gosnell murder trial, it should take the jury all of five minutes to return a guilty verdict on the first degree murder charges he faces for killing four babies. But the just has now spent four days deliberating and concluded today without a verdict in the case. It will resume on Monday. Why is the jury taking so long to adjudicate what seems like an open and shut case of infanticide? LifeNews talked to Samuel Casey, a pro-life attorney who is the General Counsel for the Law of Life Project of...

Black people are being systematically and intentionally excluded from jury service in parts of Alabama almost 140 years after the practice was outlawed in the US, a lawsuit lodged with the federal courts alleges. The class action has been launched on behalf of thousands of black people in Alabama who were allegedly prevented from sitting as jurors in serious criminal cases, many of which carried the death penalty, in a blatant move by prosecutors to achieve all-white or largely white juries. The complaint claims that the practice has been going on for decades. It relates specifically to the actions of...

Legislation moving toward House debate would slash six judges from the St. Louis Circuit Court, while adding new judges to courts in the St. Louis County, Kansas City and Springfield areas.Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City and a lawyer, said state resources must be allocated efficiently, and some courts desperately need more judges. He pointed to a special legislative committee report along with a state report conducted by the National Center of State Courts that found St. Louis has more judges than it needs. Stevenson said the studies and other judges have indicated St. Louis has more than it needs and...

Panelists claim woman wouldn't consider evidence, accused them of racism - The sole black juror on a panel deadlocked along racial lines lied to win a seat on the jury and then set out to exact revenge on law enforcement by serving as the spoiler in the trial of an alleged drug chief serving as his own lawyer, some of her fellow jurors said Monday.Jurors in the trial of Johnnie "Bro" Martin walked out of U.S. District Court with nothing to show for nine days of work but a mistrial. "She made a mockery of the system," one juror said...

Its time for Americans to take a stand against the attacks on our individual, natural rights. Jury nullification is the way to do it.

A federal jury on Tuesday ordered that two men be put to death for abducting and killing five Russian immigrants, including four from the San Fernando Valley, before dumping them into a cold mountain reservoir. The jury deliberated less than two hours before deciding that Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, both of the former Soviet Union, should die. It marked the first death sentence to be issued from a federal court in Los Angeles in more than 50 years. [...] "They got what they deserved," said Ruven Umansky, whose son Alexander, of Sherman Oaks, was among those killed. "It's a...

A judge has ordered San Diego Superior Court officials to conduct a monthlong survey of all jurors who show up at county courts to help determine whether the system is operating fairly. The decision by Judge David M. Gill on Friday was the latest – and potentially most significant – step in an evolving challenge to how the court summons county residents to serve on jury panels. It comes in the wake of several changes the court has made to the summons system since a defense lawyer first pursued the challenge, which has uncovered numerous problems with the system including...

For trucker Edward Tippie, the crash on Interstate 4 was only the beginning of his nightmare. A sport utility vehicle, loaded with a suicidal father and his two young sons, pulled away from the shoulder into the path of his tractor-trailer. Tippie hit them broadside, killing one of the boys, age 8, and the father. It was the final act in a two-day horror story that captivated the region in September 2003. Bryan Randall, 37, a former college-basketball standout, plotted to kill his four children. It was part of an intricate plan to get revenge on his estranged wife, who...