As I understand it, I wouldn't be permitted to sit on a jury that could hand out a death sentence because I'm opposed to it. I'm not sure about that. It could be that you would be eliminated during the jury selection process though by one or the other counsels.
I'm not sure about that. It could be that you would be eliminated during the jury selection process though by one or the other counsels.
That is an easy way to get out of a jury in a Capital case if you want to avoid jury service regardless of your actual opinion on the Death Penalty. There are a number of other ideological ways to exclude yourself from a jury, for instance claiming to support Jury Nullification.
In the US the jury selection process is deeply flawed because people get excluded from the jury on ideological/philosophical grounds. This is entirely different from people being excluded because they know the plaintiff or defendant, or because they have been involved in a similar crime in the past. Just like judges recuse themselves, jurors should be excluded if their participation would result in a verdict being overturned on appeal. The question is whether the jurors' ideological/philosophical opinions on criminal justice would lead to an overturn on appeal. It seems it would, which is disturbing. Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
July Fireworks
In the middle of an intersection of Columbia Pike on the Fourth of July, 1969, Roger Whitney confronted a Navy commander and his family who were returning from watching the fireworks in Washington, D.C. "Whitney, who is a big guy, got in a fight with the Navy commander and knocked him down," Robert. F. Horan Jr. said. When the commander's son got out of the van to help his father, Whitney knocked them both down, semi-conscious in a median strip of Columbia Pike. Whitney went back to his car to get a gun and killed both the commander and his son while their family in the van watched. Horan asked for the death penalty in the case, but the Fairfax jury gave him a double life term in prison. "The trial judge left four jury members on that case who didn't believe in the death penalty," Horan said. "There was no chance."
"Whitney, who is a big guy, got in a fight with the Navy commander and knocked him down," Robert. F. Horan Jr. said. When the commander's son got out of the van to help his father, Whitney knocked them both down, semi-conscious in a median strip of Columbia Pike. Whitney went back to his car to get a gun and killed both the commander and his son while their family in the van watched.
Horan asked for the death penalty in the case, but the Fairfax jury gave him a double life term in prison.
"The trial judge left four jury members on that case who didn't believe in the death penalty," Horan said. "There was no chance."
