Notes on Juries
Why Trump can't get an acquittal
A number of things interfered with my posting yesterday, but it was mostly because I was making jalapeno cheddar focaccia and shrimp tacos for friends.
There is an old joke among criminal defense attorneys: “Your fate is in the hands of 12 people who couldn’t get out of jury duty.”
When OJ Simpson (who just died) went to trial, people from states not named California were volunteering to be on his jury. And Gil Garcetti, the District Attorney for Los Angeles at the time, was beset by a problem not unique to a city which includes Hollywood, but is a situation that encompasses any place where fame, infamy, both, or just having your name attached to everything in sight — how can I sell a fair trial to the public?
The accused usually ask for a change in venue or venire, but judges and prosecutors argue such issues can be addressed with jury questionaires. And it is the latter not the former that wins the day.
The jury questionnaires, in such cases, move from “Do you know the defendant?” and “Have you read or heard anything about the alleged crime?” to “Do you have any strong opinions, good or bad, about the defendant?”
That’s the problem facing Donald Trump. He claims his real estate development business has brought great things to New York City; but Trump also claims that he cannot have a fair trial there.
Who can blames him? Manhattan, where the prospective jurors all live, went nearly 90% for Joe Biden.1 And Biden won the state with nearly 70% of the vote.
It worse than you think.2
While Trump did okay in upstate New York, he still lost by 75,178 votes in all the counties that are not New York City. And it was far worse in New York City — Biden’s won by 1,917,711 votes and his margin in Manhattan was 500,538 votes.
Biden won 9 counties outside NYC with over 65% of the vote and won a majority of the vote on Long Island’s two counties, both of which are notorious for leaning Republican — Trump even won there in 2016.
But despite Alvin Bragg framing this as a case of election interference committed by Donald Trump prior to his getting elected in 2016; the case is about a bigger piece of legal realism.
Donald Trump’s reputation as a real estate developer, landlord, businessman, and obnoxious racist (e.g. his vilification of the Central Park Five)3 is what is dooming him not his status as a presidential candidate. No one likes him. Worse still, it’s his need for attention, publicity, and adulation that will yield a jury that is predisposed to do what all juries do.
They talk about which lawyers they think did a better job then they vote of the DA’s case. The problem is Trump’s lawyers are not terribly likable either and the evidence against him is mountainous.
Joe Biden won NYC with over 72% of the vote and it is only that low because Biden lost Staten Island with 41.98%.
By TylerKutschbach - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96191789
Donald Trump posted a racist filled full page ad in the NY times against 5 African-American youths. All 5 were exonerated after serving their sentences.
Good synopsis. I often wonder what I would do if I were called for jury duty in New York (instead of in California, which I am forced to be doing next week). If I were in those shoes, and had to fill out a questionnaire for the abominable D. J. Trump. Frankly, I absolutely despise the man. I've often fantasized him being shot leaving his cavalcade or catapulted into the atmosphere via a genie's wish powers. I honestly believe that he is the biggest threat to our country since the Civil War. I believe that the world would be a much kinder place without the toxins and venom that he constantly spews into the ether around him. I am typically a kind man and am moved to pity by the plight of others. But in Trump's case, I lose my cool. He should be dead. Frankly, I'm shocked that no one has made an attempt on his life. We've had presidents who were far less contemptible than Trump who faced assassination attempts.
So, regarding the questionnaire for jury duty... I'm pretty sure I'd be excused.