I've been called to jury duty several times (and have testified as a witness in a criminal case once -- a story for another time). But I only served on a case once. And, like you, I was (apparently randomly) picked by the judge to be the foreman. Oh joy.
It was a civil case between two guys, one young -- 30's, I'd guess -- and an older gent -- 60's? -- who got into a brawl at a local [ethnic] club, one of the local joints where folks drink beer and watch soccer. Turns out there was bad blood between them, involving a real-estate dispute. I recall a thermonuclear moment when one of the lawyers mentioned "the other" (or maybe "the first") trial. The judge went immediately ballistic, called the lawyers to the bench, muted the mike, and visibly fumed before calling a recess. We were instructed to ignore all that. Oh, yeah, sure we did. I mean, no, we didn't discuss it. But I'm sure we all thought about it. I assume that that case was a criminal case, probably Assault & Battery.
But...whatever. Our verdict still makes me feel a little icky, because it at least smacks of "jury nullification". I mean, these guys did assault and batter each other. Crime did happen. The key was "each other", I guess. It was a quick deliberation. My main job was to get the jurors to deliberate at all, and ultimately we decided that both guys were hot-headed jackasses who were wasting our time, and that led to a finding for the defendant.
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Date: 2011-07-08 03:26 am (UTC)It was a civil case between two guys, one young -- 30's, I'd guess -- and an older gent -- 60's? -- who got into a brawl at a local [ethnic] club, one of the local joints where folks drink beer and watch soccer. Turns out there was bad blood between them, involving a real-estate dispute. I recall a thermonuclear moment when one of the lawyers mentioned "the other" (or maybe "the first") trial. The judge went immediately ballistic, called the lawyers to the bench, muted the mike, and visibly fumed before calling a recess. We were instructed to ignore all that. Oh, yeah, sure we did. I mean, no, we didn't discuss it. But I'm sure we all thought about it. I assume that that case was a criminal case, probably Assault & Battery.
But...whatever. Our verdict still makes me feel a little icky, because it at least smacks of "jury nullification". I mean, these guys did assault and batter each other. Crime did happen. The key was "each other", I guess. It was a quick deliberation. My main job was to get the jurors to deliberate at all, and ultimately we decided that both guys were hot-headed jackasses who were wasting our time, and that led to a finding for the defendant.