Word: veniremen
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...JURIES: One time when I was presiding over a murder trial in Burke County, they had special veniremen summoned in from another county to make sure that the accused got a fair hearing. I asked one of these jurors if he could be fair, and he answered: "I think he is guilty of murder in the first degree, and he ought to be sent to the gas chamber. But I can give him a fair trial...
...trial, in August of 1968, Vance peremptorily challenged all black veniremen, thus leaving Johnson to face an all-white jury. Vance also successfully opposed a motion for change of venue, even though two jurors admitted knowing of Johnson's militant reputation. After 1½ days of testimony and only half an hour of deliberation, the jury found Johnson guilty. Vance cited the fact that Johnson had previously been convicted of theft and asked for a sentence of 20 years. The jury went a step farther and decided...
...freeing Mrs. Huggins, 23, and Seale, 34, Presiding Judge Harold M. Mulvey added an unprecedented chapter to the Panthers' already crowded legal history. Only the day before, the seven white and five black veniremen had announced their failure to reach a verdict after six days of deliberation. The final vote was 10 to 2 for acquittal...
Despite the tedium, the atmosphere was tense from the beginning. After Mrs. Huggins' attorney, Catherine Roraback, noticed a prospective juror trembling on the stand, she asked, "Are you afraid of my client?" The reply was a shaky "yes." Scores of veniremen, faced with the prospect of months away from their jobs and families, were swiftly excused simply because they stated that they had an opinion of the defendants' guilt. "These people aren't dumbbells," Mulvey commented. "They don't want to sit on this case...
Three weeks ago, having exhausted its peremptory challenges (dismissal without stating reasons), the defense asked the court to shut off further questioning of veniremen and allow the trial to proceed with the eleven jurors already selected. "If there is to be any semblance of a fair trial," argued Garry, "we should go to trial with the jury we now have." Judge Mulvey rejected the motion and the U.S. Supreme Court let the denial stand...