Juryman

“ There they will empanel a jury in a few moments in a capital case, and so deeply implanted in the bosom of each juryman is a respect for the law as such and an inherited reverence for the judiciary, which its uniformly high character has done so much to foster, that, provided the facts are sufficiently established, the sex of the defendant, the condition of his or her family, the character of the motive for the act, will not be the subject of discussion or even of consideration in determining the verdict. It is enough that they are sworn to decide the facts and the facts alone. ”

“ Without presuming therefore to express, or even to suggest or insinuate, anything like dissatisfaction with the conclusions arrived at by the jury with reference to the class of facts now before us, but more fully laid before them, we request the reader to imagine himself a juryman, under a sacred obligation to resist prejudice and guard against first impressions. ”

“ Of all the absurdities that happen in court, the jurymen think that is the worst. Does the judge or the lawyer believe for a moment that because they say so the jury are going to forget what the witness said, especially when it was the very thing they wanted to find out? They watch the stenographer and they notice he does not even take the trouble to cross it out of the notebook.
Occasionally a juryman becomes particularly interested and wants to question something. Usually he is too self-conscious to run the risk of being snubbed, but sometimes he is bolder and ventures a question. ”

“ There are some cases, however, where one strong-minded and able juryman has swung the whole body to his way of thinking after a vote of eleven against him, and this is as true of verdicts of conviction as [Pg 256] of acquittal. Few jurors, however, can, as a rule, stand out against the assertions and incriminations of their fellows. Most of them are easy-going and like to be led by a strong hand. A positive stand taken by a fellow talesman will often bring them to his views when they are really inclined to be in doubt. ”

“ The next step is to slip some juryman into the box who is likely for any one of a thousand reasons to lean towards the defence—as, for example, one who is of the same religion, nationality or even name as the defendant. ”

“ Juries need to be kept in order and made to behave themselves, and, if judges did not from time to time exert a disciplinary influence, would easily run wild and become hopelessly demoralized. It is almost impossible to overestimate the awe with which the ordinary juryman regards the judge presiding at a criminal trial. ”

“ At the trial, the court construed the statute to mean that 'although a person called as a juryman may have formed an opinion based upon rumor or upon newspaper statements, but has expressed no opinion as to the truth of the newspaper statement, he is still qualified as a juror if he states that he can fairly and impartially render a verdict thereon in accordance with the law and the evidence, and the court shall be satisfied of the truth of such statement. ”

“ It is to be feared that many verdicts against our fellow men are as indiscriminate as that of the juryman in the following extract:
A lawyer once asked a man who had at various times sat on several juries, “Who influenced you most—the lawyers, the witnesses, or the judge?” ”

“ The jurors were sworn in,—a special jury,—and long was the time taken, and many the threats made by the Chief Justice, before twelve gentlemen would consent to go into the box. Crowds were round the doors of the court, of which every individual man would have paid largely for standing-room to hear the trial; but when they were wanted for use, men would not come forward to accept a seat, with all that honour which belongs to a special juryman. ”

“ A—I don't think so; no, sir.
Q—Now, Mr. Smith, if you were a juryman, in the jury box, could you go into the box and try the case wholly on the law and the evidence, and render a fair verdict to both sides?
A—I think so.
Court—Competent juror.
Mr. J. G. McKenzie—Ask 'Squire Smith, Col. Darrow.
Talesman—I have been on the regular panel in less than two years.
Mr. Darrow—You have been on the regular panel in less than two years?
Talesman—Yes, sir.
Mr. Darrow—I suppose this entitles him to be excused?
Court—No, sir; it entitles you to challenge him for cause. ”

“ ‘A good, contented, well-breakfasted juryman is a capital thing to get hold of. Discontented or hungry jurymen, my dear sir, always find for the plaintiff.’
‘Bless my heart,’ said Mr. ”

“ But, and this is another difference between the real and the ideal in the jury system, we have in a large number of cases the more extraordinary spectacle of a jury solemnly sitting though a trial for the purpose of listening to the evidence and forming their own opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, and then being instructed by the court as to the verdict they shall find. It is, as every one knows, the most common of occurrences for the judge to lecture the jury upon their verdict and to refuse to receive it. ”

“ While you ask the world to believe that you want a fair trial on one side of the Atlantic, you ask me to accept as a juror one who would be excluded in any civil court from a jury in a trial of a case in which I had an interest however trivial. ”

“ The determination of a trial by jury we hold to be less satisfactory, and less likely to be in accordance with fact; so easy is it in some instances for a clever counsel to frighten witnesses, to get fallacious evidence, and to represent his client’s cause, and appeal to the passions of the jurors of very miscellaneous mental calibre, often with more feeling than judgment, and generally to use all those arts which are thought legitimate by the practitioners of the law to win a verdict. ”

“ I must therefore ask the Gentlemen of the Jury to put themselves for one moment in the position of such a person. You must forget that you are solid and good citizens summoned to decide a serious matter, nay, I must forget that I am an experienced Judge seated on this Bench for many years; and we must all try to think—both the Jury and myself—try to think we are authors. Supposing that to be the case, it is all the easier, of course, to imagine oneself the author of a crime. I will, therefore, very rapidly divide up the evidence, as I see it, on the two sides, and then leave the matter to you. ”

“ Even more than this, the names of the twelve jurymen and of the two supplementary jurymen will certainly be published in the French newspapers with details about the men themselves and their professions, before the trial begins, and this of itself forms an abuse which must inevitably react on the absolute impartiality of a jury, which should be a first necessity of any criminal trial in any country, for numbers of newspapers will tell them what they ought to do and what their verdict ought to be. ”

“ Foreman.
Just like a father
I wish to be.
(Kissing her.)
Judge (approaching her) .
Or, if you'd rather
Recline on me!
(She jumps on to Bench, sits down by the Judge, and falls sobbing on his breast.)
Counsel.
Oh! fetch some water
From far Cologne!
All.
For this sad slaughter
Atone! atone!
Jury (shaking fists at Defendant) .
Monster, monster, dread our fury,
There's the Judge, and we're the Jury!
Song—Defendant.
Oh, gentlemen, listen, I pray,
⁠Though I own that my heart has been ranging,
Of nature the laws I obey,
⁠For nature is constantly changing. ”

“ The attorney for the commonwealth—that is, the attorney who prosecutes the accused—may CHALLENGE—that is, object to—a juror, but he must assign a reason for his objection, and if the judge decides in favor of his objection, the person challenged is not put on the jury. A panel is a list of persons summoned to serve as jurors.
To SUMMON is to call or notify a person or persons to appear in court. A person who is summoned to attend as a juror and who, without sufficient reason, fails or neglects to do so, may be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than twenty dollars. ”

“ The jury in a criminal trial in Paris does not, as a London jury does, melt into disappearance before the final verdict. There are a few solemn words from the judge, there is a rustle as the lawyers gather up papers and sit back, and then fourteen very ordinary, very weary good men and true, whose faces we had only seen in profile until then, rise in their places. ”

“ But with a trained panel of jurors, at the end of the second week of the term, the chaff having been separated from the wheat, the prosecution may reasonably expect to see the mill of justice grinding smoothly and reasonably fine, the jury at home in the court-room, familiar with their duties, and appreciative of the fact that all the assistant is trying to accomplish is the disposal of as many cases as possible consistent with fair trials and just verdicts. By the middle of the term he must be a very indifferent sort of fellow if he has not made friends of the jury ”

“ As it was an essential principle of the jury trial from the earliest times, that the jurors should be summoned from the hundred where the cause of action arose, the court, in order to procure their attendance, issued in the first instance a writ called a venire facias, commanding the sheriff or other officer to whom it was directed, to have twelve good and lawful men for the neighborhood in court upon a day therein specified, to try the issue joined between the parties. ”

“ On the other hand, the lawyer who wearies the court and the jury with endless and pointless cross-examinations; who is constantly losing his temper and showing his teeth to the witnesses; who wears a sour, anxious expression; who possesses a monotonous, rasping, penetrating voice; who presents a slovenly, unkempt personal appearance; who is prone to take unfair advantage of witness or counsel, and seems determined to win at all hazards—soon prejudices a jury against himself and the client he represents, entirely irrespective of the sworn testimony in the case. ”

“ We told you, in reference to the Laurada trial, that it was necessary for all the twelve jurymen to agree before a verdict could be secured.
When a trial is finished and the case is given to the jury, the jurymen in the charge of the sheriff are locked up in the jury-room and kept there until they arrive at a decision or the judge dismisses them.
When the jurors arrive in their own room, a ballot is taken, and if the vote is not unanimous they begin a regular discussion of the case. ”

“ Therefore, the jury have a power of deciding an issue upon a general verdict. And, if they have, is it not an absurdity to suppose that the law would oblige them to find a verdict according to the direction of the court, against their own opinion, judgment, and conscience?' 'The general rules of law and common regulations of society, under which ordinary transactions arrange themselves, are well enough known to ordinary jurors. The great principles of the constitution are intimately known. They are sensibly felt by every Briton. ”

“ Every man on this jury wishes to preserve his own manhood. Every man on this jury wishes to give an honest verdict. There are no words sufficiently base to describe a man who will knowingly give a dishonest verdict. I believe every man upon this jury to be absolutely honest in this case. The mind of every juror, like the needle to the pole, should be governed simply by the evidence. That needle is not disturbed by wind or wave, and the mind of the honest juror never should be disturbed by clamor, nor by prejudice, nor by suspicion. ”

“ This lawyer now selects a jury in thirty minutes.
Of course, some examination into the general qualifications of jurors and their possible bias in the case is imperative, and frequently the interposition of a peremptory challenge is not only justifiable, but absolutely necessary. A talesman will sometimes betray by an inflection of his voice a sentiment or prejudice which his words deny, or suggest to the vigilant counsel for the defendant the juror's susceptibility to the insidious flattery of the prosecutor in making him a part of the "organization of the court." ”

“ To preserve the integrity of the jury system, prospective jurors need to be educated not only about the size of a jury verdict, but also the basis of the verdict and the power of the trial court to rectify inappropriate verdicts. ”

“ When the affidavit of a juror, as to the misconduct of himself or the other members of the jury, is made the basis of a motion for a new trial, the court must choose between redressing the injury of the private litigant and inflicting the public injury which would result if jurors were permitted to testify as to what had happened in the jury room. ”

“ H. My lord and gentlemen of the Jury, the prisoner’s mingled levity and bitterness leaves me little to answer to. I can only say, gentlemen of the Jury, that I am convinced that you will do your duty. As to the evidence, I need make no lengthened comments on it, because I am sure his lordship will save me the trouble. (Aside: Trust him!) It is his habit—his laudable habit—to lead juries through the intricacies which beset unprofessional minds in dealing with evidence. ”

“ The gentleman who mildly replies "That is not so" to a challenge of his veracity, makes far less impression on the jury than the coal-heaver who leans forward and shakes his fist in the shyster's face, exclaiming: "If ye said that outside, ye little spalpeen, I'd knock yer head off." "Ah," say the jury, "there's a man for you." Just as your puritan is at a disadvantage in an alehouse, and your dandy in a mob, so are the hyper-conscientious and the oversensitive and refined before a jury. ”