July 1, 2007, media sources report that a new study analyzing jury verdicts indicates the one in six juries make the wrong verdict.  Judges do only slightly better, but when these mistakes are made the innocent are much more likely to go to jail than the guilty are to go free. The study looked at 290 non-death penalty cases in four major US cities from 2000 to 2001.  Juries were found to be mistaken in seventeen percent of their cases while judges were wrong in twelve percent.  Juries sent twenty five percent of innocent people to jail while judges sent thirty seven percent of innocent people to jail.   Juries convicted seventy percent of the time while Judges convicted eighty two percent of the time.  Finally, the study found that Judges and Juries only agree seventy seven percent of the time. 

Lessons and Impressions: 1) The Innocent should always demand a jury trial (77% to 63%).  2) Most cases are tried by public defenders and they are out funded by the prosecution. 3)  Juries and Judges construe "Reasonable Doubt" into meaninglessness to ensure the guilty don't go free and sometimes the innocent are not so likeable as jury tend to vote for the people they like or relate more.   3)  Judges are institutionally biased to believe lying police officers and police frequently exaggerate and push the limits of the truth to ensure the guilty don't go free, i.e., O.J. Simpson case where the LAPD framed a guilty man- Mark Furman took the 5th when asked if he sprinkled O.J.'s blood on the physical evidence.   Conclusion: Hire a good lawyer and request a jury trial.

---