For a little bit of trivia, the longest U.S. jury deliberation in a criminal trial--
According to Lawyers Update the longest criminal trial in U.S. history involved three former Oakland, California, police officers known as "the Riders." They were charged with roughing up suspects, planting drugs, and-what else?... a cover-up. The trial took seven months and included 84 witnesses. Jurors had to read a mountainous 122 pages of instructions on 35 counts. They took four months to reach a verdict on eight counts (not guilty) but couldn't reach a verdict on the other 27 counts. The result: partial mistrial.
The George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin jury got the case at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, after 14 days of testimony, and reached a verdict of Not Guilty around 9:56 pm tonight.
4 comments:
I watched this movie and highly
recommend it for anyone having trouble understanding the Jury
Decision - Real Eye Opener that
things are not always as they appear.
12 Angry Men (Henry Fonda)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0NlNOI5LG0&feature=c4-overview&playnext=1&list=TLr-HY0ZQtUCM
In essence, what did the movie say? I watched the trial and agree with the verdict based on the complete explanations of 2nd degree murder and manslaughter.
The Movie begins w/11 of 12 Men (jurors) saying a kid was "Guilty" of murdering his father. Fonda follows the "what if" line. What if we are wrong - we send someone to jail for life. He has strong opposition and the hold outs are actually turned w/the facts. It's pretty amazing. They actually debate the testimony and reason together on the verdict. Eye witness testimony is found to be inaccurate and they judge the kid accordingly.
As citizens we have a right to defend ourselves from harm. Only Mr. Zimmerman knows what was in his heart - the will to survive or....?
(A fb lawyer friend posted this:
"Our system protects the accused and allows that it is better that a guilty man walks free than an innocent man be convicted. That will be very hard for the Martin family and supporters to take in tonight. Prayers for their sorrows & loss."
You got this confused with the other blogger--
What people have always been "rooting for" is an honest judicial system and not convicting someone when there is reasonable doubt. There was a lot of that in this case and the prosecutors did not prove their arguments. Yes, a life was taken and I believe he should have not been able to totally absolve himself from that but---the jury believed he was defending himself. It is not illegal to get out of your car and confront someone who looks suspicious in your neighborhood that already has endured crime.
Both sides gave this case their best arguments and a jury decided. End.
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