On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:42:47 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, the jury in the case of  a jury trial.  Obviously a jury didn't
>> see the facts if the defense opted for a bench trial in the lower
>> court. :-)
> 
> True. I'm not sure how it works in that case.

From my understanding, it works pretty much the same; it's a defense 
tactic (and choice) to opt for a bench trial vs. a jury trial, IMO a 
defendant who is not sympathetic is probably more likely to opt for a 
judge if the impression is that a judge will be able to set aside 
personal feelings better than 12 "peers".

>> Yep - that's what's meant by "reversible error" - it's something the
>> court did wrong procedurally.  That can come down to a dispute over
>> facts of the case, but usually this happens because of a question as to
>> whether evidence should have been admitted or not.
> 
> I've often seen it even for things like "the lady who got burned by hot
> coffee shouldn't get that much compensation", or "you took interest into
> account when you shouldn't have in calculating the fine" or whatever.
> 
> Rare that it goes all the way back to reversing the decision.

Yeah, in the case of Stella (to whom you refer here), the verdict wasn't 
overturned, but the punitive damages awarded by the jury were, as I 
understand it.  That's not a question of changing the verdict, though, 
just the damages - and I was thinking criminal courts, in civil courts 
the procedures are a bit different because the threshold isn't "beyond a 
reasonable doubt", which is why you get things like OJ being acquitted of 
murdering his wife, but being convicted in the wrongful death suit that 
followed.

>> Yeah, but the thing that gets me is the people who seem to wear it as a
>> badge of pride that they got out of it.
> 
> Here, it used to be you sat around for a week waiting to get seated.
> Now, if you don't get a case on the first day, you're done for the year.
> If you get a case, you're done for three years. I think that soothed a
> lot of annoyed people.

That is pretty much the case here as well - they tell you they might call 
you back on the second day (technically, you are supposed to call an 
automated message) but usually if you're not picked on Monday, you won't 
be called up again until your name comes up again.

>> Federal jury duty gets you out of all jury duty for something like 5
>> years, too (longer than the county courts, but I forget the actual
>> amounts of time).
> 
> I would think it depends on the state, really.

I don't think it does, actually - I'll have to ask my wife what she was 
told.

Jim

Post a reply to this message