Not surprisingly, a few of the Peterson jurors have a lot to say about the Anthony verdict, none of it complimentary to the Anthony jury. A current ModBee article also has this statement: "He and others were surprised that Anthony jurors deliberated less than 12 hours after a six-week trial. Sequestered Peterson jurors reviewed five months of courtroom notes, argued and spit out two jurors replaced by alternates before proclaiming him guilty nine days after huddling behind closed doors, with 31 hours of actual deliberation." The "he" referred to in the quote is John Guinasso.
The Peterson jury was behind closed doors for 31 hours, but by law and the Judge's instructions, their deliberations were supposed to start all over again after the replacement of Juror #5 on November 10. According to the times given in the Court minutes, that jury only spent 14 1/2 hours total in deliberation. That was for a 6 month trial. The Anthony trial only lasted 6 weeks.
November 10
10:33 a.m., Juror #5 is replaced, and new jury begins deliberations.
11:40-12:40, lunch break
4:00 p.m., jury retired for the day
4 1/2 hours deliberation
November 11
Assume deliberations start at 8:00 a.m, 1 hour for lunch, and deliberations stop at 4:00 p.m.
7 hours deliberation
CORRECTION: this was a holiday -- no deliberations
November 12
Assume deliberations start at 8:00 a.m.
10:53 a.m, Jury asked for verdict forms, indicating verdict had been reached
Less than 3 hours deliberation
Grand total: 4 1/2 + 7 + 3 = 14 1/2 hours
CORRECTION: grand total 7 1/2 hours deliberation
12 hours deliberation for a 6-week trial.
7 1/2 hours deliberation for a 6-month trial.
"This is an O.J.," said Mike Belmessieri, referring to another headline trial ending in acquittal. "I don't want to beat this jury up. But they're going to be forever known as the jury that made the wrong decision."
Mr. Belmessieri ought to be more concerned about his own reputation and the reputation of his fellow jurors once the truth about what happened to Laci Peterson is revealed.
Thanks to Jane's comment for catching this error.
4 comments:
Ain't that the truth! All the Peterson jurors need to think about how and why they convicted an innocent man and sent him to death row! How could any one of them sit in judgement of the Anthony jurors saying they made the wrong decision? Would that not be calling the kettle black? Just goes to show how ignorant and judgemental some people are, and I am specifically speaking of the Peterson juror speaking out now! This is just so wrong on so many levels!
Thursday November 11, 2004
Veteran’s Day. Jurors did not deliberate.
So 7 hours can be subtracted from the total. That means there were only 7 1/2 hours of deliberation for a 6 month trial.
Wow.
I guess when it comes to the Aponte tip, what Harshman saw, and the Modesto PD's numerous and criminal lies, a couple of the Peterson jurors have been sitting with their hands over their ears singing La-La-La-La-La for all these years.
I mean, they've had plenty of time to get some reality here. I understand they're invested in their decision, but a life is at stake. Unbelievable they could just brush off all the info that's available to them.
Is it fear of being wrong? Is it ....not being curious enough to seek out confirmation and eliminate problematic contradictions? Is it a sense of moral certainty? Is it an enduring antipathy for Peterson, absorbed by the rageful vindictiveness of the trial and the media coverage? How can one ignore facts?
The audiotapes bother me the most. Peterson was convicted by audiotape which probably wasn't even legal--what was in those warrants again? But the Modesto PD lost the audiotapes that contained exonerating evidence. The whole thing is rotten. I'm amazed at these jurors once again.
Burkey, I couldn't have said it better than you did here.
I do think the fact that the media monsters convicted him before the trial and the fact that the jury may have been subjected to all those media trial snippets sure helped.
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