Trial by Jury, a precious civil right. Except it’s not. It’s not right.
This would be local news but it’s now becoming national. Here in Illinois the state slogan among politicians is, “We can do anything if you have enough money to pay us off”. It’s a political lap dance. Pay money they dance and degrade themselves as much as you want them to.
Our last REPUBLICAN governor who single-handedly destroyed the republican party in Illinois and who used a diversion factor like outlawing the death penalty which endeared him to liberals has been accused of fraud.
Now there’s not much doubt that the man is sleazy. Crooked. ETC!
He’s a politician and he’s from Illinois. Nuff said. When I moved here from North Dakota 20 years ago the level of graft out in the open was like a third world country. It’s now only like a 2-2 ½ world country today.
And as a result we have no republican party in Illinois any longer. It’s a pity. I digress.
What’s the issue is Ryan is on trial. This trial regarding graft has been going on for over 6 months. The trial is over. The jury has it. Deliberations have begun and are now in their 9th day.
Suddenly it becomes known that there is a problem with one or two of the jurors. They are given an 85 question quiz before they are interrogated to be put on the jury.
A couple of the questions are:
#75
Have you had any particularly good or bad experience of contact with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office of any other State Governmental agency? Y/N
Ryan had been Secretary of State before he became Governor. But, what kind of a question is that. EVER? ANY bad experience?
Or how about this doozey:
#82
Have you or has any closed friend or relative ever been charged with or accused of a crime? Y/N
Relationship Crime(s) Charged Outcome of the Case
Who could answer this question?
They want Jesus as a Juror. No wait, he was accused of a crime. NO GO.
So the upshot is after 6 months a potential for mistrial at worst and a potential for a restart of 9 days of deliberation is about to begin with an alternate.
The law does not require anyone to do a background check on these folks. My friend Rob Port could uncover the junk found in these two jurors backgrounds in 18 minutes flat.
And, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE WHO CAN SIT ON THIS JURY FOR 6 MONTHS @ $40 per day plus travel.
I have a friend who owns a large company who was called for this case and almost made the Jury. He didn’t. But, what if.
Who in the world or more important what kind of people end up on this jury. Government workers get their salary even if it goes 6 months. That’s a good deal for them at your expense.
So we have people with an axe to grind lying to get on and screw up the trial. Or we have bureaucrats.
Why not engage intelligent retired folks. They don’t mind the distraction, they don’t mind the money, they have wisdom of lifetimes of experience and they don’t mind having something to do.
That’ll never work. Makes too much sense.
My conclusion is, our trial by jury system is out of whack and needs repair.
At least in Illinois.
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