Judicial "entertainment"

[SoCalDem]

A woman judge named Crocker just referred to Martha as a "rich bitch"..not once but TWICE.. It's on the Dan Abrams show. They are just getting such jollies over this thing.. A juror was interviewed and Dan kept trying to get him to "admit this... and admit that".. They guy was a bit reluctant...and after he was off screen,. they as much as called him an idiot ..

I just HATE this.. Prison time..rich or poor is not a joke..

This reminded me of something I wrote in January.. It's even more pertinent today ..

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SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-21-04 01:28 AM
Original message
"A jury of your peers"

Edited on Wed Jan-21-04 01:31 AM by SoCalDem

After watching a piece about Martha Stewart today, this phrase kept going through my head.. I fear that there is no such thing anymore.. Martha Stewart is (was?) a billionaire. A jury of HER peers would be something to behold..

I am sure that when the justice system was set up , a jury of YOUR peers was a good thing, considering how a common man would have a hard time getting justice by the higher classes, so the "peer thing" was good.. A common man on trial for robbery or assault would have a fairer chance of justice if people "just like him" were to judge him..

Most trials took place as an everyday event. There were surely the "notorious criminals" in every era, but for the most part, probably the only people who went to court to watch trials were the victims, families of the victims, local townspeople who just happened to be curious, or in need of shelter from bad weather.. Most people probably did not even know about the trials, nor did they care.

To be fair, the "crime of the century" trials have always occurred from time to time, but the radio and press coverage of them satisfied most people. Probably the juries in each of them were actually peers , anyway.

With the advent of the televised coverage of trials and the hoopla during the lead ins to the trials, I seriously doubt that a "fair" trial is even possible anymore. The jury of peers is probably impossible as well.

If you are a poor minority defendant, you will never get a jury of your peers, any more than the billionaire will get one of his peers. Poor people will always be judged by people who are "above" them in status. Rich people will always be judged by people who are way "below" them in status.

The big difference though, is that with the rich defendant, the media will have had months and months to air anything and everything they can find about the "rich criminal". The combination of jealousy, envy and scorn that is aimed at the one soon to be tried in court cannot be quantified. Finding a jury that is truly not aware of the facts of the case is impossible these days.

Martha Stewart may have done something wrong, but more wrong has been done TO her than BY her. During the time she was preparing for court, there has been a movie that portrayed her as an evil , spiteful,greedy woman. Maybe she IS all of those things, but the non-stop coverage of her life could not help but find its way into the minds of the very people who will be asked to judge her.

Poor people who often have lousy lawyers, who only want to "clear their cases", do not get a fair shake either. They may not have the wall-to-wall television coverage, but they suffer too, due to the nature of the jury selection.

The jury selection for the most reprehensible of crimes (Scott Peterson, OJ,people who murder their kids,sexual molestation, etc) is difficult too.. The media is all over these like white on rice. There is no avoiding the "facts" that ooze from our TVs , no matter which channel we tune to. When in any other era have the various lawyers and pundits elbowed each other to get to the cameras, so they can argue their cases to the public, before the trial? How can this be justice? The cases get so much pre-trial attention, that after millions of dollars, and thousands of hours, some cannot even be tried in the communities where the crimes occurred..Changes of venue , to try and find an untainted jury pool, is ridiculous with all the mass media. The only change of venue that would work, is to a different planet..

Our courts have turned into entertainment....just like everything else.. And it's a very BAD thing.