nickh
01-16-2007, 01:26 PM
I served as jury foreman in a murder trial held in Chicago in November 2000. It was the first time I served on a jury. The defendant was a gang member (Traveling Vice-Lords, for what it’s worth), the victim an innocent bystander. It was a drive-by shooting, a case of “mistaken identity” that occurred in the summer of 1999. Bullet to the back of the kid’s head. It happened on Chicago’s west side. Ironic thing is that the victim was a college student home for a break, probably one of only a handful of college students coming out of the break west side. We convicted the thug. It was a pretty clear case, at least for me.
One of the disturbing takeaways from this trial is that it’s hard to underestimate the intellectual capacity of the average American. Most of my fellow jurors were just plain stupid. On the first day of the trial (it lasted three days), during the lunch break, it was clear through their body language that verdicts were already decided. The two blacks and Asians (2 young Pilipino males) were firmly in the not guilty camp. The Hispanics (2 older males) and the Whites were happy to have the trial end ASAP and just declare the guy guilty. When we entered the jury room for deliberations, 4 voted not guilty. The reasons for the not-guilty votes ranged from “not enough evidence” to an O.J. style cry of police framing, evidence tampering and conspiracy. Those voting guilty seemed satisfied that they got their man. After all he was a black gang member – enough said.
The deliberations were a bit comical and exasperating. Trying to get the Not-Guilty camp to see the lunacy of their conspiracy theories was futile. It was their way of sticking it to the man. We were deadlocked for hours. Two finally relented and voted guilty. The remaining two not guilty holdouts switched their votes to guilty when informed that we were going to be kept until a verdict was reached, even overnight. The judge would not allow us to claim to being hopelessly deadlocked. Pretty amazing that the threat of keeping them overnight was enough to get some jurors them to switch their votes to guilty.
Got to learn quite a bit about gang hierarchy, hand signals and culture, so there was an educational benefit for some of us. The Vice Lords are made up of various branch gangs; e.g. the Traveling Vice Lords, Undertaker Vice Lords, etc. Found out what one witnesses meant by “getting little” – (def: to disappear or go away. The further away you go off into the horizon, the smaller you seem to be. Hence, “getting little”.) The prosecutor was quite colorful but also very effective (Fabio Valentini - look for him to rise in the political ranks someday).
One of the disturbing takeaways from this trial is that it’s hard to underestimate the intellectual capacity of the average American. Most of my fellow jurors were just plain stupid. On the first day of the trial (it lasted three days), during the lunch break, it was clear through their body language that verdicts were already decided. The two blacks and Asians (2 young Pilipino males) were firmly in the not guilty camp. The Hispanics (2 older males) and the Whites were happy to have the trial end ASAP and just declare the guy guilty. When we entered the jury room for deliberations, 4 voted not guilty. The reasons for the not-guilty votes ranged from “not enough evidence” to an O.J. style cry of police framing, evidence tampering and conspiracy. Those voting guilty seemed satisfied that they got their man. After all he was a black gang member – enough said.
The deliberations were a bit comical and exasperating. Trying to get the Not-Guilty camp to see the lunacy of their conspiracy theories was futile. It was their way of sticking it to the man. We were deadlocked for hours. Two finally relented and voted guilty. The remaining two not guilty holdouts switched their votes to guilty when informed that we were going to be kept until a verdict was reached, even overnight. The judge would not allow us to claim to being hopelessly deadlocked. Pretty amazing that the threat of keeping them overnight was enough to get some jurors them to switch their votes to guilty.
Got to learn quite a bit about gang hierarchy, hand signals and culture, so there was an educational benefit for some of us. The Vice Lords are made up of various branch gangs; e.g. the Traveling Vice Lords, Undertaker Vice Lords, etc. Found out what one witnesses meant by “getting little” – (def: to disappear or go away. The further away you go off into the horizon, the smaller you seem to be. Hence, “getting little”.) The prosecutor was quite colorful but also very effective (Fabio Valentini - look for him to rise in the political ranks someday).