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Unhappy with the number of potential black jurors called to his court last week, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Olu Stevens halted a drug trial and dismissed the entire jury panel, asking for a new group to be sent up.
“The concern is that the panel is not representative of the community,” said Stevens, who brought in a new group of jurors despite objections from both the defense and prosecutor.
And this wasn’t the first time Stevens, who is black, has dismissed a jury because he felt it was lacking enough minorities. Now the state Supreme Court is going to determine whether the judge is abusing his power.
He did the right thing! Juries should be made up of your peers..
What is the preferred definition of Peer? Should a rape trial include only probable rapists as jurors? Should a white defendant expect only white jurors?
I would have expected the word peers means simply fellow citizens and nothing more. I agree that the local jurisdiction may have a very different demographic than another jurisdiction and therefore the potential jury will have a significantly different demographic makeup, but isnt the pool simply a subset of those citizens that responded to the summons? Unless the Judge is trying to make the point that the jury pool is being manipulated somehow, I don't see the validity of the charge. He should accept the jury pool demographics as being representative of the citizenry willing and able to participate in the system.
What is the preferred definition of Peer? Should a rape trial include only probable rapists as jurors? Should a white defendant expect only white jurors?
I would have expected the word peers means simply fellow citizens and nothing more. I agree that the local jurisdiction may have a very different demographic than another jurisdiction and therefore the potential jury will have a significantly different demographic makeup, but isnt the pool simply a subset of those citizens that responded to the summons? Unless the Judge is trying to make the point that the jury pool is being manipulated somehow, I don't see the validity of the charge. He should accept the jury pool demographics as being representative of the citizenry willing and able to participate in the system.
agree. what's next, an all Islamic terrorist symp jury for suspected terrorists?
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Originally Posted by SHABAZZ310
He did the right thing! Juries should be made up of your peers..
Does this mean an adequate number of drug users need to be present in the pool? Will this same philosophy be acceptable when a jury is dismissed because there are not enough whites or Asians?
So is the judge saying black people should show up for jury duty instead of skirting their civic duty.
Where do you get this info?
I am black and have been called and shown up for Jury Duty every time except when I was pregnant or nursing my youngest child.
They never put me on a jury.
My husband is called at least once a year and is one of those people who wish they are chosen. They never pick him.
I read before that during the jury selection process, that prosecutors are less apt to pick black jurors because black people are more sympathetic to defendants and are more apt to believe that police corrupted or manufactured evidence. I can see how that is true.
I'll try to pull up that information for you later.
But I know a lot of black people and all of us have been called for jury duty at least once and all of us have gone at least once and none of us have been chosen for a jury except 2 people that I know.
I worked with a white man in Atlanta who was also called every year and he has served on multiple juries before.
He did the right thing! Juries should be made up of your peers..
Something tells me you wouldn't have the same opinion if they were dismissed because they were black.
I had jury duty recently, there is small population of blacks in my area but they were very underrepresented in the jury pool. Indians who have an even smaller population were better represented.
The 13-member jury chosen for a theft trial ended up with no black jurors. There is something wrong with the process when the local population has lots of blacks but none serve on juries.
The judge's ruling was correct.
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