Do juries really get it wrong 17% of the time?

According to professors of statistics and law at Northwestern University, juries return the wrong verdict in one case out of six. Patterico disagrees, as do I.

Do juries ever make mistakes? Of course they do. The system isn't perfect and the last time I checked, juries were still composed of flesh-and-blood, fallible human beings. However, whether a jury verdict is wrong is ordinarily a subjective conclusion, reached by someone who doesn't agree with the verdict, usually whoever lost the case. Even so, sometimes newly discovered evidence or the application of new technology to existing evidence (such as DNA) will demonstrate objectively that the jury was wrong in its verdict. In fact I note that Professor Heinz says "We know there are errors because someone confesses after the fact or there's DNA evidence...." But if the evidence was never presented to the jury in the first place because it either didn't exist or wasn't available at the time of the trial, is it fair to blame the jury for not getting it right? I don't think so.

When I was a young prosecutor, a far more seasoned defense attorney (now a federal judge) told me that in his experience, juries usually get it right, although often for the wrong reason and over a 30 year career in the law, I have often remarked on how right he was. The reality is that if a case actually goes to trial, that usually means that there are issues and/or facts that reasonable people can differ about.

Even when you subjectively are convinced that the jury reached the wrong verdict, it is usually unfair to blame the jurors. Their role in our adversarial system is a passive one and based upon my own experience as a trial lawyer and confirmed by the records in most of the thousands of cases I have reviewed on appeal, any problem with confidence in the verdict can usually be laid at the feet of one or more of the more active participants, the lawyers and/or the trial judge or even a witness who commits perjury. In turn, the lawyers involved in the case are human as well and they don't have to be incompetent or unprepared to have a case go south on them (although sometimes that is indeed the problem). An advocate may have simply made a tough strategic or tactical decision that at the time they thought was in their client's best interest but, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, was the difference between winning and losing.

Based upon this article, I agree with Patterico that this study is more headline than substance.

As the ad guys say, "Product placement is everything."

This theater manager either has a sense of humor or doesn't have a clue.

I'm no marketing genius but ... (Part II)

After my last sojourn into second guessing the demand (or lack thereof) for some of the products on the market today, I didn't expect to be doing it again so soon. Alas, I should have known better because, as I have noted previously in this space, David Hannum continues to be right. So here we go again:


First up we have this nice little miniature pistol/watch. Small enough to fit in any pocket and just the thing when you need to know the time in those airports, banks, convenience stores, schools and police stations.

Hat Tip to Nerd Approved.


Although not quite on the market yet, a Japanese company has developed a robotic Master of Ceremonies which will assist at the wedding of one of its designers. Unfortunately, the divorce will still require human beings.

From PhysOrg.com.



What home or office could possibly be complete without the Farting Gnome? The FG has a movement sensor and when someone gets close, it proceeds to crank one out at top volume and follows up with rude comments. If your narrow minded wife or girlfriend won't let you bring it home, just put it on your desk at the office where you can impress your boss and scare the night cleaning crew.



Finally, we have the wearable seat. Essentially this is a chair worn like a backpack. Go ahead and be among the first to be able to sit anywhere, anytime and simultaneously make a fashion statement that says "I look like a pink bumblebee."

It seems we have a new low-speed police chase leader.

Not to be outdone by either the LAPD's pursuit of OJ Simpson's white Bronco or a wimpy Long Beach police officer who chased down a Mercedes on a Segway, we seem to have a new title holder in the low-speed police chase category. The BBC reports that a couple of British "bobbies" flagged down a rickshaw pedaled by Ben Mathews. Mr Mathews took aboard the constables and a fellow rickshaw operator who hung onto the back and chased down a suspect who fled while being arrested.

I know its not the same as chasing down a Mercedes driven by a 13 year-old, but I'm still impressed by Mr. Mathews' leg strength and stamina.

Judge sentences man to three years without a date.

A Canadian judge sentenced a man who attacked his last girlfriend to three years without any new ones.

That should make his Eharmony.com profile interesting.

Segway mounted police officer chases down stolen Mercedes.

Now this is what you call a really low speed chase.

Long Beach Police Officer Jose Miguez managed to utilize the breakneck speed (12.5 mph) available on the two-wheeled Segway Personal Transporter to follow a Mercedes and arrest a 13-year old carjacker and his accomplices.

Via Wired.

Alabama gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "legislative floor fight."

Fists were flying on the Alabama State Senate floor yesterday during debate on an election reform bill. Republican State Senator Charles Bishop punched Democratic State Senator Lowell Barron in the head after Barron called Bishop a "son of a [expletive deleted]".

I guess that in Alabama, a bipartisan approach to election reform is out of the question.

From the early days of television, credits that are actually fun (and possible) to watch.

Most people have never heard of Ernie Kovacs but he was both a comic genius and a television pioneer from the days when TV was black and white. At the risk of dating myself and confirming for many of you that I am indeed an old geezer, as a child I watched his TV show every week. He was unique and pretty goofy.

This clip, consisting of nothing else but the closing credits from one of his shows, indicates just how clever Kovacs was and as an aside, reminds me of the days when you could actually read the credits on television shows. It looks crude by today's standards but was very difficult to do with the editing tools available in the late fifties.

Teacher sues kids over movie depicting evil teddy bears and boys saying "yeowwww."

A math teacher is suing four boys for making a video that depicts "evil teddy bears" telling other toys to attack a math teacher with the same name as his. He was apparently traumatized by the violence which according to Jackie Suess, a lawyer for the boys, "was literally stuffed animals being manipulated by the boys, walking around going 'yeoowww' and talking in funny voices, very juvenile.".

I think that it is both ironic and appropriate that the lawyer for these kids is named "Suess."

Hat tip to Above the Law.

In honor of Sgt. Pepper turning 40.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I thought it might be appropriate to refer you to this sentencing order from a Montana court. As part of his pre-sentence report, the defendant, one Andrew Scott McCormack, when asked what he thought the court should do, submitted a written response as follows: "Like the Beetles (sic) say, 'Let it Be.'"

Judge Gregory R. Todd, who is obviously a Beatles afficianado determined his sentence this way.

Perhaps in retrospect, Mr. McCormack should have gone a little farther back into the Beatles' music library and asked for a little "Help."