« The Closing Argument | Main | The Jury Deliberates »
September 23, 2005
One Lone Juror?
Defense and prosecution attorneys around the Criminal Justice Center always say the same thing: "You never know what a jury's going to do."
There are some well-worn myths: If the jury looks at the defendant, he's going home. If the jury averts its eyes, the defendant's going to jail.
As defense attorney Fred Perri announced he would rest his case without calling a single witness, juror No. 7 raised his eyebrows, then wrinkled them like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He threw back his shoulders. He let out a big breath.
Was he reacting to Perri or some private thought?
The entire case seemeed to go the defense's way, and most courtroom observers seemed relatively sure Sigel was heading toward a not-guilty verdict.
But could one man or woman hang the entire jury so this case just doesn't go away?
These are the kinds of questions people in courtroom 305 wrestled with as the 12 jurors—10 African-American, two white; seven women, five men—started their deliberations.
Posted by steve at September 23, 2005 04:50 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
