Posted by Racer on February 19, 2006, at 15:15:25
In reply to Re: Interesting.... » AuntieMel, posted by Larry Hoover on February 7, 2006, at 17:20:24
> > > Code of Criminal Procedure
> Art. 46.03.Sec. 1.(e)
>
> 'The court, the attorney for the state, or the attorney for the defendant may not inform a juror or a prospective juror of the consequences to the defendant if a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity[0] is returned.'
>
> For the life of me, I cannot fathom what justification this clause has. I would think it would be unconstitutional to prevent a jury from fully understanding the decision they've been called on to make.
>
> LarAin't that quaint? You know why? It's because there's this fiction that the jury should consider the evidence, not the consequences. You know, they should look at the evidence and say, "She was froot loops" or "she knew what she was doing." They shouldn't consider what the consequences would be.
I remember seeing an attorney, in closing statements, say something like, "If you're thinking about the consequences, then you've already made up your mind." I wish I could remember what he really said, because it was a brilliant thing. Anyway, our system does create problems through these fictions. They're very nice stories, that all juries are "our peers" and that the jury considers the evidence without bias, and many times that is the case. Unfortunately, as Auntie Mel pointed out, that's not the case for death penalty cases. They start out with jurors being "qualified" for a death penalty case -- and those that believe in the death penalty strongly enough to vote for it tend to be more likely to vote with the prosecution regardless of the evidence.
By the way, although it wasn't a death penalty case, I did sit on a jury that convicted a man of first degree murder with special circumstances. That experience convinced me that our system, for all its flaws, is fundamentally sound. I have a lot more faith in the system since that experience.
poster:Racer
thread:605722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060204/msgs/611127.html