Trial by jury

[mikhail]

I cant help but think if i had commited or been accused of commiting a crime if i was innocent id want one judge if i was guilty i would want a jury.

Discuss.

 

[joko104]

I cant help but think if i had commited or been accused of commiting a crime if i was innocent id want one judge if i was guilty i would want a jury.

Discuss.

You probably got that backwards. Judges don't like to go against the police and district attorney, particularly elected judges. But a judge is more likely to go along with typical sentencing, which is usually lower than by a jury.

 

[rathi]

I would say that juries are more swayed by emotional appeal, while judges are more likely to favor a textbook interpretation of the law. Depending on your circumstances, the choice may vary. Also, with a jury trial your lawyer can pull tricks to get a jury favorable to you, while you can't really pick your judge.

 

[RightinNYC]

Assuming you have the money, you want a jury unless it's a particularly distasteful offense.

 

[hiswoman]

I would want a jury trial in any case.

 

[LiveUninhibited]

Especially since we have too many lawyers, I think we should require that every jury have a judge and defense attorney (one with no ties to the defendant's attorney) on it, so that fallacious appeals to emotion are more easily neutered.

 

[Caine]

You probably got that backwards. Judges don't like to go against the police and district attorney, particularly elected judges. But a judge is more likely to go along with typical sentencing, which is usually lower than by a jury.

You have this part backwards when it comes to my specific county.

Although we have managed to elect some better judges. We have also elected a few people who don't know their ass from a whole in the ground, and have to step down from the bench to "recess" to look up laws on some of the most ridiculous things.

 

[Caine]

I would say that juries are more swayed by emotional appeal, while judges are more likely to favor a textbook interpretation of the law. Depending on your circumstances, the choice may vary. Also, with a jury trial your lawyer can pull tricks to get a jury favorable to you, while you can't really pick your judge.

Also not always true.

Ive had defense attorneys continue cases until a judge they wanted rotated into my district level courtroom that week.

Most of the time they still lose...


But then again, all my comments mean nothing since I don't arrest people who are innocent (Although many claim to be).