[cpw]

Interesting that the 12 thought verdicts had been reached yet there were disputes when they were read.



Mistrial Declared in Muslim Charity Case

http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?...rg=blsadstrgt&_lid=332&_lnm=tg+ne+topnews&ck=

"A judge declared a mistrial Monday for four former leaders of a Muslim charity accused of funding terrorism, after chaos broke out in the court when three jurors disputed some verdicts that had been read.

The outcome came about an hour after a confusing scene in the courtroom, in which three former leaders of the group were initially found not guilty of most counts involving funneling money to terrorists. But when jurors were polled, three jurors said those verdicts were read incorrectly."

 

[montello]

I have never seen this before, but I guess it's a good deal that they do poll the jury, otherwise the next person railroaded could be any one of us.

 

[Clyde]

All the judges i have practiced in front of askthe jury "Is the verdict of all of you?" and if it looks like it might not have been, asks if any counsel (or sometimes sua sponte) polls the hurors. Thus is the frist time I have ever heard a jury answer that it WASN'T a true unanimous verdict in a criminal case. And I practiced for over thirty years before I retired and resigned from the Bar.

 

[cpw]

I had not heard of this occuring before which is why I thought it interesting.

 

[Clyde]

The reason you haven't heard of it is that while jury polling is quite common (I always asked that the jury be polled if there was a guilty verdict, and the prosecutors asked fairly often if there was an acquittal), it is almost unheard of to have any of the jurors say "No, it wasn't" when asked "Is this your verdict?". In thirty + years, I never had it happen in a case I was involved in, and can't recall ever hearing of it either. So - yeah, a rare event for the judge to find out the purported unanimous verdict handed up by the presiding juror - wasn't.

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

I'd guess the dissenters got browbeaten in the jury room and were afraid to dissent until they were out of there.

 

[Clyde]

Pretty fair guess, I'd say.

 

[cpw]

they got even though

 

[Clyde]

Yep. And from what several jurors said, they were unpersuaded by the government's case (well, obviously).