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My day in court as a juror
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper)
Posted: November 12th, 2013
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/My-day-in-co...
This summer, I was selected for jury duty in Los Angeles. I took my civic duty seriously and kept an open mind. Although our criminal justice system is imperfect, I believed that it was one of the fairest in the world. But the longer I spent in that dingy wood paneled courtroom, the more disillusioned I became with our justice system. Jurors were treated like convicted criminals. The judge quizzed us on legal principles without giving us any information beforehand and yelled at us for our poor legal knowledge. Then, he threatened to charge us with contempt of court if we were a minute late from lunch or spoke in the courtroom. As bad as all of this was, I was most appalled by the ineffective way the trial was conducted. At one point, a reluctant witness mumbled through his testimony. It was impossible to hear him over the clerk talking on the phone and bailiffs gossiping. Yet, jurors couldn't say anything for fear of being charged with contempt. Later, a key video was presented, but the AV was antiquated, the screen was as small as a washcloth and the people depicted were but blurry figures. How could we decipher anything useful from this footage? Several people could be sent to jail based on this evidence. If the government wants to guarantee fair trials, it should take the money it wastes on conscripting jurors and buy decent projectors and cell phones for clerks so their administrative duties don't interrupt trials.
Note: For more on government corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
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