Word: juror
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...case. The prosecution has a lot going for it -- a realistic set, a good supporting cast complete with a couch potato who times his life by reruns of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, waiters with ponytails and exotic accents, a lost dog and two grieving families. Still, persuading a juror who doubts that O.J. Simpson could be a monster capable of buying a 15- in. stiletto (requesting that it be extra sharp) and then plunging it into the bodies of two people will be harder than convincing the public that Donna Reed could preside over the machinations at South Fork...
Kunstler does not know yet whether he will be allowed to use testimony linking Ferguson's rage to the resulting violence. If the courts say yes, Kunstler has reason to hope for juror empathy. A National Law Journal survey of 800 people taken in March showed that 68% of blacks and 45% of whites felt that a "compelling" defense could be made of fury resulting from long-term racism...
Thanks to the talk shows, Americans are increasingly familiar with the language of therapy and recovery -- with new syndromes, with the fragility of the psyche and with the painful ways the abused can become abusive. Nan Whitfield, a Los Angeles public defender, believes media coverage of abuse has raised juror interest in the motives and mind-set of the accused. "I think juries have always been interested in why something happened," she says. "Once the defendant crosses the threshold and does present that evidence ((of his victimization)), I do think the jurors' ears perk up and they become more interested...
While authoritative studies have yet to be compiled, jury consultants are beginning to correlate TV habits with a juror's likely behavior during a trial and deliberations. Talk-show watchers, says Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a jury consultant in Pasadena, California, are considered more likely to distrust the official version and to believe there are two sides to a story. At the same time, jurors who regularly watch such reality-based police shows as America's Most Wanted may harbor strong law-and-order beliefs. "We want to find out what drives a potential juror to watch the shows," says John...
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted with the majority because she felt the government should not have the right to discriminate in the juror selection process, nevertheless noted these difficulties. "To say that gender makes no difference as a matter of law is not to say that gender makes no difference as a matter of fact," O'Connor wrote. She said her decision should not seen as pertaining to defendants in criminal cases...