Jury Trial

The Michael Jackson jury, in its willingness to talk publicly after its verdict, offered a glimpse of a rarely acknowledged factor in our legal system: how the personal feelings of jurors affect their verdicts. Juries are supposed to rule on the facts of the case, of course, but they are made up of human beings, and humans tend to distrust those they dislike. It happens at work, it happens in families and it certainly creeps into juries -- especially in a long trial.

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay, facing federal fraud charges, asked a judge Monday for a speedy trial, even if it meant giving up his right to have his fate decided by a jury. "We are so confident in Ken Lay's innocence that we have taken the bold step to waive his right to a jury trial," said Lay's attorney, Michael Ramsey. "While we would strongly prefer to go before a jury, we believe that a speedy trial is so important that we are willing to waive this right."

Six former Kmart Corp. executives, who were accused in a lawsuit of contributing to the discounter's bankruptcy filing, won't have to face a jury trial, a Michigan judge ruled. Oakland County Circuit Judge Rudy Nichols ordered the matter to binding arbitration, finding that the executives' employment contracts barred a trial by jury.

A Highland man facing life in prison without parole has pleaded guilty to murdering a 16-year-old girl and dumping her body down a well in San Bernardino. Jonathan Lee Stephens, 20, entered the plea Monday without any reduction of charges and against the advice of his attorney, who urged him to exhaust his legal right to a jury trial. "His case was very nearly hopeless," said James Gass, Stephens' attorney.

Armed with fingerprints, DNA test results and a pile of other physical evidence, a prosecutor Tuesday said he would prove that a 17-year-old Santa Paula boy bludgeoned a married couple to death so he could drive their fancy sports car. At the start of Adam Sarabia's trial, prosecutor Richard Simon said that the 2002 slayings of John Ramirez and Joann Wotkyns were so vicious that the victims' blood splattered on Sarabia's clothes, shoes and the murder weapon, a Little League baseball bat.

An Orange County jury began deliberations Tuesday to determine whether a father was reckless when he maimed his daughter with an accidental shotgun blast. Jeffrey West, 35, was charged with felony child endangerment and could be sentenced to nine years in prison if convicted of the September 2002 shooting.

A former UC Irvine student charged with raping and torturing a 15-year-old girl he met through the Internet told police he beat her because she slapped him and threatened to falsely accuse him of statutory rape, according to testimony given Wednesday in his trial. Brian Dance, 22, of Newport Beach has been held in the Orange County Jail on seven felony charges since he was arrested in December 2001 after a friend of the alleged victim played a decoy in an Internet sting.

I read with profound dismay the May 31 letters to the editor concerning how the jury system works. The right to a jury trial is one of the most fundamental constitutional rights, and one for which brave men and women died with their faces in the mud. Yet there are people who complain bitterly about the "inconvenience" of serving on a jury and feel that "jury service is something to be avoided." Part of being a citizen in a democracy is being "inconvenienced" to serve as a juror. The jury system ensures that everyone is given a fair trial by his or her peers.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday narrowly reaffirmed a decision that Suzuki Motor Corp. is entitled to a jury trial on its claim that Consumer Reports magazine rigged a test to show that the Suzuki Samurai sport utility vehicle "rolls over too easily." Consumers Union, the parent organization of Consumer Reports, failed by a 12-11 vote on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in its bid to get a rehearing. Judge A.

Nothing says adventure, romance and intrigue quite like jury duty, or at least that's the hopeful attitude of a dozen down-on-their-luck Londoners who seem delighted to find themselves on a high-profile murder case in PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" miniseries "The Jury."