Jury Duty: Reclaiming Your Political Power and Taking Responsibility by Singer Michael;

Author:Singer, Michael;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC

Threat against the Jury

Since the time of Bushell’s Case, it has become a generally accepted principle that the jury must be able to reach its verdict without being subjected to threat, coercion, or fear of retribution. So Dwyer wrote in 2002: “We are accustomed to juries doing their work without fear. Whatever their verdict may have been, today’s jurors leave the courthouse immune to official reprisals and even to questions about how they reached their decision.”31

Even a vague, indirect threat can be enough to invoke this principle. In a recent federal case, a juror had been told by an attorney friend that she “could get into trouble” if she failed to follow the judge’s instructions. The appellate court said: “Jurors cannot fairly determine the outcome of a case if they believe they will face ‘trouble’ for a conclusion they reach as jurors. The threat of punishment works a coercive influence on the jury’s independence, and a juror who genuinely fears retribution might change his or her determination of the issue for fear of being punished.”32

In a 1960 English case, after the jury had been deliberating for two hours the trial judge called the jurors back and told them that unless they reached a verdict within ten minutes, he would keep them locked up overnight. Within six minutes, the jury reached a verdict of guilty. The Court of Appeal declared:

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