1970's comedian Norm Crosby famously said that "When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty."
I found confirmation of this observation in these two separate news items:
It seems that in Massachusetts, at least one juror failed to get out of jury service despite branding himself a homophobic, racist, congenital liar. Maybe he should have served on this Massachusetts jury.
And across the pond, a Muslim juror in a London murder trial was caught listening to her MP3 player under her headscarf instead of the testimony of the witnesses. She had already managed to get out of jury service on two prior occasions and although she tried to be excused a third time, the court wasn't having any of it. After a fellow juror reported her, she was excused from the jury and the defendant, Alan Wicks, was convicted of murdering his wife by the remaining 11 jurors.
Apparently, British courts take a harsher view of this kind of juror misconduct than their counterparts in America because the article quotes a barrister who indicates that the average sentence for juror misconduct is three years in prison. Because this kind of thing makes a mockery of the entire jury system, I tend to agree with the British approach.
Hat tip to Above the Law.
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