By David in TN
Nicholas,
You have written that some people will lie about being willing to vote for the death penalty during voir dire. Here is an example. It was the shooting death of Philadelphia police officer John Pawlowski by one Rasheed Scrugs, who surprised the court by admitting his guilt in front of the jury. According to a juror who voted for the death penalty:
“But I think there were some people on the other side who really did not believe in the death penalty. Their minds were made up from the start.”
Another juror agreed. “He said that when he asked one juror to explain why she favored a life sentence, she replied, ‘None of your business.’”
Juror Fred Kiehm, 49, described the atmosphere as "horrible."
"It was extremely tense . . . screaming, yelling, at one point I thought someone might break furniture," Kiehm said.
Another juror, who asked not to be named for fear of the public reaction, added: "There really wasn't any deliberation, because from the start people made their minds up and wouldn't discuss it."
From that first hour the 12 met, about 5 p.m. on Nov. 2, said the two male jurors, there was never a chance for a verdict. The deadlock - seven for life in prison, five for death by lethal injection - was already set.
The reason for the deadlock is still difficult to determine. One juror, for example, simply refused to take part in the deliberations, remaining silent or walking out to the lavatory.
Others, Kiehm said, were swayed by one of Scrugs' "mitigating factors" for life in prison - four sons - whom the jurors did not want to grow up with a father on death row.
To police, prosecutors, and many others around the region, the Scrugs case was what the death penalty was made for.
Scrugs, 35, a paroled robber who last year killed Pawlowski, 25, announced before the slaying that he would kill a police officer, then pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
So more than a few people were shocked when Scrugs was sentenced Monday to life because the 12 Philadelphians picked to sit in judgment could not reach a decision….
The prosecutors and defense attorneys David Rudenstein and Lee Mandell spent three weeks in October interviewing almost 500 prospective jurors before picking the 12 who swore to listen to the evidence and impartially decide between execution by lethal injection and life in prison without chance of parole.
[Deputy District Attorney Edward] McCann said prospective jurors were asked several times how they felt about capital punishment.
"Basically, you have to take people on their word," McCann added.
Kimmy Pawlowski, the slain officer's wife, said in an interview this week she felt some jurors lied so they could get on the jury and prevent an execution.
Kiehm said he felt one juror might have done that. Mostly, he said, he thought the others just found they could not deal with condemning another person when confronted with the decision.
“Jurors in Philadelphia cop killer trial say they were deadlocked from the start,” by Joseph A. Slobodzian, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 11, 2010.
Keep in mind that it could have been worse. Had Scrugs not confessed to the murder on day one of the trial, and instead insisted on his innocence, at least one of the racist black jurors who refused to sentence him to death would likely have voted to acquit. And that juror or jurors would have acted not based on doubts as to Scrugs’ guilt, but based on the certainty of it.
Look for a movement in the not-so-distant future, demanding that Scrugs be paroled.
4 comments:
"Cowardly,racist, ambush murderer..."
I wouldn't call him a coward.
Once again, Nicolas sounds like Al Sharpton and/or Jesse Jackson.
What would you call him, a "hero"? Meanwhile, on the other thread, you pose as a "Christian."
Fuck you very much for writing.
I have looked every where I can to find the racial make up of the jury.
As far as I can tell none of the Philly papers ever reported that fact.
(No wonder they are going out of business). One thing I did find was that Scrugs shot Office Pawlowski at close range three times with a 357mag. !!!
I read the 11/11 Inquirer about the deadlocked jury but that was not the only report on race relations that day in the paper.
In the South Jersey edition there was a story about the conviction of Troy Whye, a black man, for killing his white girlfriend and mother of his son. She was reported to have been an honors student at the Rutgers Camden campus.
The next page followed with even a more moving story. In Burlington County Richard Still was accused of murdering his girlfriends grandfather. She of course was white and he black. It is believed Stills murdered the old man on Feb 11 and buried him in a shallow grave. Still was arrested on May 7th so that gave him plenty of time to sleep with the old man's grand daughter. I thought to myself what sort of person is it that can choke and old man to death and then bed his grand daughter night after night.
Maybe he didn't get enough Pell grants or was reacting to some white racist slur or the like.
You mistook me for somebody else. I have never posed as a "Christian"
Your bombastic rhetoric is getting ridiculous. At least Sharpton and Jackson have an excuse. They were born with diminished cognitive and reasoning skills.
I apologize. Comparison to Sharpton was a low blow.
Your stile more resemble that of Keith Olberman than Sharpton.
Post a Comment