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I've meant to write about this for sometime but the recent verdict with Casey Anthony was what brought me into writing it. This incident is disgusting and shows that the jury trial, which was considered an important right and cornerstone in our nation's founding HAS been undermined. It shows how far we have drifted from our Christian values and the philosophical values of our godly founders who gave us this great nation. My view of why this happened can be summed up by Rush Limbaugh who pointed to the so called pro-choice movement that advocates legal murder for babies... "You...

The woman, known only as juror number 12 left her job and went into hiding fearing co-workers would 'want her head on a platter'. Her husband said before leaving she told him: 'I’d rather go to jail than sit on a jury like this again.' He told NBC News he was worried for her health and had his bags packed ready to leave if his 60-year-old wife's name gets released. The woman, who moved to Florida from Michigan fled the area, retiring from her job working at Publix Grocery over the phone because she didn't feel safe.

Casey Anthony's acquittal of the killing of her precious child, Caylee, has shocked the nation. Many who watched the trial on TV – and who were not constrained from taking into account inadmissible evidence, the punditry of various talking heads, or the overwhelming public sentiment against Ms. Anthony – have been critical of the jury's verdict. Among those most vehement in their condemnation of the jury are TV notables Bill O'Reilly and Nancy Grace. Their indignation is shared by those who feel the verdict represented a gross miscarriage of justice. Cases like this call the value of trial by jury...

Morning all, didn't see a thread for today so I created one.

Casey Anthony’s six-week murder trial finally rested today as jurors were sent away to decide whether her two-year-old daughter was the victim of an accidental drowning that she covered up out of fear and grief, or was brutally murdered by a 'pathological liar' who wanted to live free and party. Judge Belvin Perry dispatched the jury in Orlando, Florida, to consider their verdict after the state delivered an emotionally stirring rebuttal to the defence’s closing arguments, telling the panel of seven men and five woman that Caylee Anthony died in June 2008 at the hands of 'the most well documented...

Former governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty on only one of 24 counts against him. The jury appears hung on the others. The guilty verdict was on Count 24: providing false statements to officers. After the reading, the jury was thanked and asked to return to the jury room. *snip* Before the verdict was read, Judge Zagel said that there may not be verdicts in all 24 counts with which Blagojevich is charged -- and that any counts dealing with forfeiture will be dealt with on Wednesday morning.

It appears the jury may be on the verge of announcing a verdict. The six men and six women sent out a note this morning asking for two things -- first, a copy of the oath they took when they were seated, and second, instructions on how to fill out their verdict form if they can't reach a unanimous decision on a certain count. Judge James Zagel is sending them a note in response. He also ordered -- since "the tenor of the note" indicated that a verdict is imminent -- that the defendants, Rod and Robert Blagojevich, stay within...

It was an exodus just a few ticks short of panic. As word spread throughout Oakland around 2:30 p.m. that a verdict had been reached in the Johannes Mehserle murder trial, the downtown streets suddenly flooded with workers rushing out of their workplaces to go home. The normally placid lanes became clogged, people hurried along the sidewalk, and there was an almost electric air of worried anticipation. BART trains streaming in and out of downtown were jammed. At the downtown federal building, announcements were made over loudspeakers to tell everyone to go home. At many of the big businesses throughout...

On any given day in the Bay Area, it's common to come across aspiring musicians hawking homemade music CDs on the streets of Oakland, Berkeley or San Francisco.Kazi Reeves, 25, who spends time each week outside Peet's Coffee Shop on Oakland's Lakeshore Avenue, is an easygoing pitchman who uses an iPod and headphones to offer potential customers a free sample.He is unabashedly friendly and upbeat, except when it comes to the Johannes Mehserle trial in Los Angeles."I expect an unfair verdict," Reeves said. "A fair verdict would at least be manslaughter," he said. Anything less "would be enough for me...

The Johannes Mehserle murder trial looks like it will wrap up in Los Angeles this week and that has people in Oakland bracing for possible trouble once the verdict is read. While city leaders are calling for calm, people who use Lake Merritt found messages preaching the opposite. The sidewalks that circle the lake were spray painted this weekend. Some were mundane such as "Justice for Oscar Grant." Others seemed to point to trouble with the words "LA Better Get It Right Or Else." One appeared the threaten the Mehserle's life. Workers were out Monday morning trying to remove the...

My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election. I want to thank the...

Growing numbers of British school-leavers have 'attitude problems' and believe the world 'owes them a living', a Tesco boss warned today. Youngsters too often turn up late for work and interviews and fail to see the importance of dressing neatly and working with others, said Lucy Neville-Rolfe, director of corporate and legal affairs. Many also struggle with basic maths and English as exams become easier and schools fail to properly enforce discipline. In a hard-hitting speech, Mrs Neville-Rolfe, 56, one of the most powerful and well-paid women in British business, blamed failures in our education system. She said shortcomings among...

Torture-slayings trial, Day 9: Victim's families: Jury 'let us down' with Letalvis Cobbins verdict KNOXVILLE - The families of a young Knox County couple tortured and killed in January 2007 tonight sharply criticized a jury's decision to spare defendant Letalvis Cobbins the death penalty. "I think the jury has let us down," said Mary Newsom, mother of murder victim Chris Newsom. "I think they've let Channon and Chris down. We were hoping for the death penalty." After deliberating a little more than two hours, the jury delivered its verdict about 6:50 p.m. in Judge Richard Baumgartner's courtroom. The judge polled...

UPDATE: William Jefferson jury completes fourth day without verdictby Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune Tuesday August 04, 2009, 3:15 PM ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- The jury in former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson's bribery and corruption trial has completed a fourth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict. Jurors concluded the day about 90 minutes early to accommodate the schedule of one of their members. They will return Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. There was some courtroom action today as Judge T.S. Ellis and lawyers in the case held two brief bench conferences in the morning to deal with a question from the jury...

Tariq Aziz guilty of Iraq murders Aziz surrendered to US troops in 2003 Tariq Aziz, for many years the public face of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, has been jailed for 15 years for his role in the execution of 42 merchants. Aziz had denied any role in the summary trials of the men accused in 1992 of profiteering during economic sanctions. Two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers were also found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Baghdad. Another top official, Ali Hassan al-Majid - commonly known as Chemical Ali - was jailed for 15 years. Two other Iraqi...

For example, Dr Eugenie Scott of the staunchly anticreationist National Center for Science Education (NCSE) revealed their agenda when she said: “ … I would describe myself as a humanist or a nontheist. I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day! … What we [such clergy and atheists] have in common is that we want to see evolution taught in the public schools … .”4

Excerpt - JACKSON – Something unusual happened Thursday at the Mississippi Supreme Court. It may be the first time a majority of the justices voted to prohibit a colleague from publishing a dissent in a case. In other words, Presiding Justice Oliver Diaz of Ocean Springs disagreed with a court decision and wanted to write about it. His fellow judges said, no, he couldn’t and they apparently stopped the court clerk from filing Diaz’s statement into the record. Diaz's document also wasn’t made available to the public, as every other order and dissent are. ~ snip ~

DETROIT — A jury convicted a 911 operator Friday of willful neglect of duty after authorities said she didn't take seriously a boy's calls to report his mother had collapsed. The mother was found dead three hours after the first call. The misdemeanor charge against Sharon Nichols is punishable by up to a year in jail. She will be sentenced March 11. Nichols, 45, testified she could not hear the then-5-year-old boy on the other end of the line. Authorities said Robert Turner called 911 twice on Feb. 20, 2006, to report his mother had passed out. Robert, now 7,...

An appeals court has overturned a $1.5 million verdict awarded to a woman who was spanked in front of co-workers in what her employer called a camaraderie-building exercise. A jury in 2006 had ruled that Janet Orlando had suffered sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled on the rear end at home security company Alarm One Inc. The jury punished the company with a $1 million punitive damage award. But on Monday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal overturned that verdict, ruling that the jury had been given improper instructions. In particular, the jury...

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Kurds bought sheep to slaughter in celebration and stockpiled generator fuel to keep televisions working for Sunday's verdict against Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as Chemical Ali, and others accused in a 1980s crackdown against them. Many in northern Iraq said they anticipate the harshest penalty possible against Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and the former head of the Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command, who is accused of responsibility for using chemical weapons against Kurds in the late 1980s scorched-earth campaign to crush a rebellion in the north. The case — called Anfal after the codename for the...