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One nutjob juror cannot convict, but one person can prevent a unanimous verdict by refusing to cooperate or objectively evaluate testimony and follow the rules.
by kevingadd 7y ago
One nutjob juror cannot convict, but one person can prevent a unanimous verdict by refusing to cooperate or objectively evaluate testimony and follow the rules. The result of that in many cases is a hung jury and then a mistrial.
Combine this with the concept of jury nullification (something law enforcement DESPISES) and there are lots of situations where it would make sense for a juror to refuse to align with the rest of the jury.
- Operyl 7y agoFuck ... I hated that so much. I loved the actual courtroom experience, I learned so much about how our legal system worked and both sides’ lawyers did an excellent job in explaining the case from their view points. By the end, it was pretty clear to the majority of us which party had the better case .... except for one old lady who wanted to “stick it to the man” and hated both parties. 4 ish days of deliberation trying to get her to put aside her biases. Eventually we were able to explain it to her and she stepped down (after we pointed out it’d be a waste of everyone’s time, including hers, if we didn’t come to a decision), but man it sucked until then. It was a complex business case, and it required a unanimous jury vote.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]