Interestingly, the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney in my recent domestic violence jury case spent a decent chunk of time discussing what reasonable doubt meant, and were very clear that it didn't mean 'beyond a shadow of a doubt' because all people have doubt, etc. I'm not sure how much it helped for the other jurors, but I thought it was a fair presentation of what was meant by reasonable doubt, and how 'reason' works in that regard.
I don't know that anyone had the same discussion with the Martin/Zimmerman jurors. I do find it interesting that they asked so many questions about the legal definitions of the charges. It makes me wonder if this case was lost during the charging phase, and not voir dire.
Still. The upshot message that comes out of this is that Trayvon Martin was killed for walking-while-black, and that apparently all it takes for a black person to be considered a threat worthy of self-defense is that they be black in another person's general vicinity.
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-14 10:35 pm (UTC)I don't know that anyone had the same discussion with the Martin/Zimmerman jurors. I do find it interesting that they asked so many questions about the legal definitions of the charges. It makes me wonder if this case was lost during the charging phase, and not voir dire.
Still. The upshot message that comes out of this is that Trayvon Martin was killed for walking-while-black, and that apparently all it takes for a black person to be considered a threat worthy of self-defense is that they be black in another person's general vicinity.