TJEP Vol 1-

The Texas Juror Experience Project is less than 1 hour old. Here is the first juror submission
1. What was the offense?- Convenience store robbery in Fort Worth, Texas
2. What was the verdict?- Not Guilty
3. When was the trial and how long was it?-1996 or 97. Lasted about 3 days
4. What evidence persuaded the jury?- They showed a freeze-frame video. Didn’t look anything like him. The clerk said it was the defendant, but the clerk had been robbed 9 times in the last year and… well, it was immediately obvious to the jury the clerk rode the short bus.

5. Was the police officer a good witness?- I don’t remember a police officer on the stand. They built there case with video evidence.

6. What was the defense lawyers best arguments?- That the prosecution had to prove there case and he introduced doubts at every turn. BTW, it was a court-appointed lawyer. Old man with cast on his foot.

7. What was the defense lawyers worst arguments?- There were none.

8 If you could tell defense lawyers anything to help them be more effective, what would it be?

That’s a difficult question to ask in this trial. After it was over, we were so convinced he was innocent one of the jurors asked the prosecutor if he really thought he would get a conviction. To my utter astonishment, he said “I would have been really surprised if we got a conviction in this case”!! The prosecutors admitted this to us!! Two guys on the jury that ran their own business lost 3 days pay for a case the prosecutors didn’t even think they would win. They were mailto:F!#@$ pissed.. and I don’t blame them. We asked why it had come to trial. You know why? Because he had done it before. He had previously been convicted of a convenience store robbery (we weren’t told that during the trial – this was after) and they arrested him for this one! Then, he wouldn’t accept a plea bargain. So, they put him on trial.

Labels:

Posted in:
Updated:

One response to “TJEP Vol 1-”

  1. <img src="http://www.blogge says:

    Interesting comments. As to the prosecutor saying, “I would have been really surprised if we got a conviction in this case,” I offer this: jurors often lie to lawyers in post-verdict interviews. Perhaps lawyers lie to jurors as well. The prosecutor’s statement sounds like bravado to me.

Contact Information