When Jurors Talk Back

[Oakman]

Ilíon wrote:

You're such a "troll." And such a fool.

And you are so predictable. Thank you for bringing so much laughter into my life.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface

[Ilion]

Oakman wrote:

I think it might make great good sense for jurrors to submit their questions to the judge. If they wouldn't create grounds for a mistrial or an appeal, he could ask them.

In the criminal case for which I was a juror, the prosecution had one witness. At one point, the presecutor asked her a question; her answer was at best neutral in respect to his case. A few minutes later, he summed up her testimony to that point and asked her whether he had it right ... except that he turned that one answer into exactly the opposite of what she'd said. No one but me caught that little twist. When the jury were finally sent off to deliberate, the rest were all for convicting the defendant (a young black man): everyone from the good old boy to the bleeding heart white woman to the circle-the-wagons-and-protect-our-children-at-all-costs black woman to the racial-chip-on-his-shoulder black man (who seriously misunderstood me). If I had been one more person like the rest, the man would have been convicted within five minutes. Now, as it turns out, I give no credence to the defendent's defence ("I didn't know it was there"). Which is to say, I believed that he was guilty, as charged, of having a concealed weapon ... but I also believed that the charge was essentially bullshit. So, I was able to interest enough of the rest of the jury in having the transcript read to us -- it took forever for the recorder to find the relevant place. After that, and given the adamant natures of certain of the jurors, agreement was impossible. And while I was voting for conviction (once the rest of the jury was cognizant of the prosecutor's "slip"), I was quite happy with the hung jury result -- I just couldn't see sending the kid to prison without even thinking about what we were being called to do. I suspect that on his retrial, if there even was one, he was acquited. Or, if he was sent to prison, it was a short sentence. I happened to run into him perhaps a couple of years later (I have no idea whether he recognized me, and I certainly said nothing to him) in the company of a young woman and a new-born.

[Ilion]

Oakman wrote:

And you are so predictable. Thank you for bringing so much laughter into my life.

Ah, so you're also simple? After all, who else but a simpleton could have "so much laughter into [his] life" due to another being "so predictable?" :laugh:

[Oakman]

Ilíon wrote:

After all, who else but a simpleton could have "so much laughter into [his] life" due to another being "so predictable

Don't you like being a figure of fun, Troy? Ever since Jim Baccus stopped doing Mr. Magoo, no-one else has portrayed pompous obliviousness half as well as you do.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface

[Oakman]

Sounds like you did the right thing and stuck to your guns when it would have been easier not to.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface

[0x3c0]

Oakman: 'simpleton' Ilion: singleton

[Ilion]

Oakman wrote:

Sounds like you did the right thing and stuck to your guns when it would have been easier not to.

It's deliberate life-long habit: I always oppose injustice and the unthinking "go along to get along" mindset which so frequently enables injustice. Which, doubtless, goes far to explain why you are so often at loggerheads with me.

[Ilion]

True, I was not one of a set of twins.

[Oakman]

Ilíon wrote:

Which, doubtless, goes far to explain why you are so often at loggerheads with me.

Probably. I keep my bullshit detector set to very high.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface

[Tim Craig]

Oakman wrote:

Probably. I keep my bullsh*t detector set to very high.

I think the output would saturate on Ilion even on its lowest setting. :laugh:

"Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." -- P.J. O'Rourke

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[Ilion]

Oakman wrote:

Probably. I keep my bullsh*t detector set to very high.

You'd need to, wouldn't you, just to get through the day? ... I mean, if you left on the low setting, it'd go off everytime you opened your mouth.