Posted on
April 7, 2009 in
This is the case on which I was deselected from the jury last week. Now I’m glad Caroline “Wonder Woman” Dozier decided to strike me; I wouldn’t want to be remembered for having sent a guy to prison during my tenure as HCCLA President.
The jury gave the defendant life in prison plus a $10,000 fine — which is adding insult to injury, since Caroline told us in voir dire that the fine didn’t matter, and a person sent to prison wouldn’t pay the fine.
There is something seriously wrong with giving the defense lawyer only 30 minutes to examine the 60 people from whom will be formed the jury that has the serious potential to send a guy to prison for life. How could any reasonable judge think that 30 minutes per side for jury selection was enough in this case? A case in which the accused is a suspected MS-13 gang member? In which there will be evidence of the murder in Honduras in 2006 of his ex-wife’s parents?
It’s time to fix the jury selection problem in Harris County.
I would actually go further in the opposite direction. Questioning potential jurors should be kept as minimal as possible but then create massive penalties for misconduct by a juror.
So how you gonna fix it?
An excellent question, and one to which I don’t yet have an answer except, “not alone.”