Juror Skewers Prosecution’s Case in Drug Gang Trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010101813.html?hpid=sec-metro
“With some of these [murder] charges, the testimony and other evidence was so lacking that we found the defendant not guilty with very little discussion,” Caron wrote. “I did wonder if some of the murder charges would ever have reached the trial stage if they had been prosecuted individually.”
In an interview, Caron said he did not suffer any hardship for his experience on the jury; he retired from the Department of Agriculture in 2005 and has a small consulting business. But he said other jurors faced extreme stress when taken away from their careers and families. He said he was primarily concerned about the cost of the trial to the government, because it commandeered nearly a year’s time for a judge, his staff, court personnel and prosecutors.
“I would think that would be a big concern for the U.S. attorney’s office,” Caron said in the interview. “They’re expending all this time. What else are they not doing?”
Caron said he left the experience delighted to find that strangers with little in common can work hard to understand one another’s positions and reach what he considered the correct and fair conclusion. He said he thinks the defendants, though, might wonder whether the criminal justice system is fair.
“As a society, we want to get the right people,” Caron said. “We don’t want to just get people.”
(via The BLT)
