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Judge v. jury makes no difference; besides, it'd be unconstitutional

Reader comment on item: Judges Repair the Mistakes of Juries

Submitted by Jinan Safwat (United States), May 10, 2006 at 20:53

DP writes, "Twice have juries unaccountably acquitted Islamist terrorists, and twice judges have fixed the errors. * * * Perhaps, when terrorism is the charge, as in anti-trust law or as in the French courts, judges should make decisions."

Judge Shira Scheindlin (Fed. Dist. Ct. So.Dist. NY) proved the opposite in the Osama Awadallah case, dismissing a perjury charge, thereby preventing a conviction.* The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, however, later overruled her and reinstated the charge. The jury heard the evidence and voted 11-1 for a conviction, resulting in a mistrial.

Trust me, as a litigator, I can tell you that, aside from their overwhelming cynicism (a product of listening to one side or the other lying to their faces every day), judges are just as capricious as juries. Also, unlike in special French courts or with anti-trust law, the absence of a jury trial in our civilian criminal courts would violate our Constitution. So, unless the trials are military in nature (and even then it's questionable), terrorism trials by judges are a non-starter.

* In April 2002, in the case United States v. Awadallah, after Awadallah testified before a Grand Jury that he had met with two of the September 11, 2001 highjackers, but could not remember their names, Scheindlin dismissed a perjury charge against him and found that Awadallah's prolonged detention without actual criminal charges was based on misrepresentations and omissions by the government and could not be justified under existing law. Her decision was later reversed on appeal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shira_Scheindlin

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Reader comments (15) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Dhimmification of Juries [56 words]chswMay 14, 2006 12:0145577
Judge v. jury makes no difference; besides, it'd be unconstitutional [253 words]Jinan SafwatMay 10, 2006 20:5345316
Killing of Jews is acceptable to these juries [42 words]Michael SavittMay 10, 2006 11:1445268
Courage's judges against cowered jury [42 words]f.shakkiMay 8, 2006 21:3745059
Missing the point about jury trials [458 words]J. Keen HollandMay 8, 2006 20:0045056
And if the punishment is widely considered inappropriate? [36 words]Michael AndreyakovichMay 3, 2006 20:5444823
Big Fish - Little FIsh [244 words]rickMay 3, 2006 12:5644797
Judges and Juries [61 words]Herbert EiteneierMay 3, 2006 07:3844785
Disease? [16 words]Robert LynnMay 3, 2006 18:0644785
Judges and Juries [26 words]Herbert EiteneierMay 5, 2006 02:0044785
Re: Why? [155 words]Robert LynnMay 7, 2006 04:0644785
Expect to see more trial by judge rather than Jury [575 words]Nick GoodMay 3, 2006 06:1044783
Terrorism Cases - Military Tribunals [59 words]Mark RothMay 3, 2006 05:1944781
Yes to Military Tribunals [58 words]Jim WoodsMay 10, 2006 10:5144781
Civilian Courts/Military Tribunals [112 words]Mark RothMay 10, 2006 15:3544781

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