And as we become more ‘diverse’ doesn’t this become even more so the case?
Last week, after three days of jury selection, about 130 men and women were questioned by the judge, the prosecutor and Mr. Conroy’s defense lawyer here in State Supreme Court. Only five were selected; the rest were excused. …
At times, the jury selection had the feel of a call-in show on talk radio, as men and women sounded off on illegal immigration, hate crimes, their ethnic background and the American dream. Most of the comments made by potential jurors came in response to questions asked by Justice Doyle in a third-floor courtroom of the criminal courthouse in Riverhead, as Mr. Conroy sat motionless in a dark suit at a table next to his lawyer. …
“It is a little bit of a glimpse into the soul of a community,” Bruce Barket, a Long Island defense lawyer and a former Nassau County prosecutor, said of the comments being made in this case so far. “These kinds of issues and these kinds of tensions are always present in the courtroom. Race is probably the most dominant unspoken factor in ALMOST EVERY TRIAL.
Amazing where race realism rears its ugly head, no?
As Joe Webb notes…
Besides the issue of how hard it is to find jurors, there is the other general issue of a “jury of one’s peers.” In a racialized society, how can Blacks, Whites, and Mexicans ever be expected to be objective? When Bill Clinton’s White minority blessed future arrives, go to trial White, go to jail.
We needn’t wait for the white minority future. All this nonsense about finding an “impartial” jury is really an effort to find a jury that will certainly convict Conroy.