Bring in the Jury
by Sam Aurelius Milam III
One
thing revealed by the O.J. Simpson trial is the fragility of the authority
presently exercised by juries. The judge's sole and exclusive power
to instruct the jurors, his absolute ability to censor everything that
they see or hear, and his total control over their very lives while they're
sequestered renders a jury potentially controllable by a judge. My
observations persuade me that when such power is available it will eventually
be abused.
![Page 1 Box](Images/Page_1_Box.gif) Things
could be very different. The success of a trial is dependent upon
the performance and cooperation of the jurors. Once seated, jurors
can demand their authority as a condition of performance. A court
cannot afford to impanel an unlimited number of juries or to cite an unlimited
number or jurors for contempt. Eventually, a court must yield to
such a demand if the demand is persistent. Therefore, informed and
united jurors have considerable power if they are brave enough to insist
upon it.
In
the Simpson trial, for example, the jurors should have elected a foreman
at the very beginning of the trial, not at its end. They need not
have asked the judge for permission. They should simply have done
it. That foreman should then have represented the will of the jury
throughout the trial. The jury, not the judge, should have decided
what evidence the jurors could see. The jurors should have had the
right to seek any testimony that they believed to be important and to prevent
any that they thought was a waste of their time. The jurors should
have had a right to direct any questions they believed relevant to any
individual that they chose to question. The jurors should have decided
what media coverage they would watch. They are, after all, adults.
And above all, they should have had the right to discuss the case among
themselves, in any way that they chose, at any time they chose, from the
very beginning of the trial.
Contrary
to the instructions of judges and the opinions of DA's, the job of a jury
is more than the narrow determination of guilt or innocence. A jury
seeks to discover truth and determine justice. Ideally, and viewed
over a large number of trials, juries are an ongoing constitutionality
council. This is the method whereby the people can continuously and
in person monitor and redirect the activities of government. Through
juries, the people can enforce constitutionality without reliance upon
obstinate bureaucracies or recourse to remote electoral processes.
Juries are an embodiment of the will of the people. No mere judge
ought to ever have power over the will of the people.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Inside Track
by Sam Aurelius Milam III
After
the Amtrak wreck in Arizona this past October, the controlled media trotted
out the approved possible causes: domestic terrorists; a disgruntled
employee; mischievous kids. However, it might be instructive
to wonder who would benefit from such a wreck. If you watched the
news, then you saw the swarm of government agents at the scene. A
lot of government employees got a lot of job justification from the wreck
at a time of severe budget pressure. The wreck provided the U.S.
government with a windfall opportunity to flex its muscles, to alarm people
with anti-liberty propaganda, and to justify its repressive powers.
So far as I know, the wreck did no harm whatsoever to the U.S. government
while providing considerable benefit. Indeed, no other group will
benefit even half as much from this wreck as the U.S. government.
That gives the U. S. government, at the very least, a motive. It
also had opportunity and ability. Finally, it has its own investigative
agency to conjure up phoney evidence. The lack of an "approved" suspect
(that is, a non government suspect) would provide the additional benefit
of an unsolvable crime and therefore an endless investigation.
Maybe
the U.S. government didn't orchestrate the Amtrak wreck, but consider this.
If the U.S. government is good and honest, then we risk nothing by being
overly cautious. If the U.S. government does indeed conduct such
covert acts of terrorism and misdirection, then we risk everything by being
naive. With government, you cannot be too careful.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
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