OT: Re: [Coco] New Scam

[Ward Griffiths]

On 09/29/2005 08:59 pm, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Thursday 29 September 2005 20:26, Ward Griffiths wrote:

> > I'll never sit on a panel due to having read the Constitution and
> > Bill
> > of Rights -- the Voir Dire (French for jury stacking) process will
> > Thats not a defense I've heard before. Please elaborate if you can.
>
> Now, get this as I don't know how common it is, but as a senior
> citizen, I'm automaticly excused here in WV.  Personally, I'd think
> that they might want to have the life experiences of an Old F^h^h^
> h^h^hS.C. on a jury, and by the way, we don't have to take time off
> from a $200 dollar a day job, to serve on a jury panel at $5 and found
> a day.  So to me, it would make perfect sense to avail themselves of a
> captive jury that isn't trying to solve yesterdays problems he got
> called about last night while sitting a jury box.  We might need a
> latrine break more often, but heck, that goes with the territory.

Voir Dire is when the lawyers from each side (and then the judge) look for 
reasons to reject jurors.  Originally, the idea was to make sure that none of 
the jurors had a personal connection with the defendant, but nowadays it's 
mostly used to make sure that no juror has any knowledge of the case (i.e., 
never reads the papers or watches the news and is otherwise ignorant of the 
world and will therefor take their word about laws and rights).  Knowledge of 
the Constitution and Bill of Rights will almost always get a juror rejected, 
because of that historical tendency of juries to refuse to convict somebody 
accused of breaking an unconstitutional or otherwise patently ridiculous law, 
even if that "law" was actually violated.  Among other things, the Fugitive 
Slave Act and Ethanol Prohibition were casualties of Jury Nullification.

See www.fija.org for further information.
-- 
Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net

But today doctors are as dependent on Medicare and Medicaid as their
patients are.  The great narcotic of the welfare state has caused
consumers and doctors alike to lose faith not only in the free market
but also in the concept of voluntary charity.  Everyone has lost faith
in himself and in others.  -- Jacob Hornberger