New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-10
CRIMINAL LAW TRIALS.

Ii is the opinion OF the Cincinnati
Gazette that the present jury system might
appropriately be called the trial by
ignorance" In selecting the panel of the
jury at present, every man who has
formed and expressed an opinion is ex-
Guided from the box, and the case is
committed to those who have lived in the
community without being members there
OF. To illustrate the meaning of this
take any of the prominent criminal cases
that have been tried before the courts of
New Orleans, and what has been the pro-
cedure? A list of fifty jurors was made
out from the registry of voters, and these
men were summoned to attend at the
trial. Of the entire number perhaps
forty-nine will escape from serving be-
cause they have read an account of the
case in some of the daily papers, and
have made up their minds as to
the guilt or innocence of the prisoner.
The provisions of the code, or
rather the rulings of the courts,
are positive that an expression of opinion
is an absolute disqualification. The one
man who has not arrived at a conclusion
is accepted by the law, because he has
lived in society without knowing or hear
ing of the injuries which have b~efallen
himself as a member thereof. He is neces-
sarily an ignoramus or a misanthrope,
because it is impossible for a citizen to
exist in an intelligent community without
reading the news or hearing from his
neighbors of their notorious misfortunes.
Such a man is unsafe upon a jury, because
he is se~lf-convicted Of indifference to those
disorders which disturb the society of
which he is a part. And if he is so care
less of the public good that he has made
no inquiry concerning its disturbance, or
if he is so much engrossed in his own af-
fairs that he has not had time to be a citi-
zen, how do these faults peculiarly prepare
him to discharge the solemn duty of pro-
tecting society as a juryman? If he was
~listless or impatient as a citizen, why is it
to be presumed that he will become active
and laborious to sift the evidence and APP
ply the law when he has been sworn into
the jury box? Is he not liable to carry his
Impotence and his indifference with him
into the courtroom, and may not his YER
dict be the hazardous rendering of a man
only too anxious to be discharged from an
unpleasant duty?
Take it in another light, that the citi-
who has had the intelligence and
honesty to read the news and to hear the
details Of the offense as they were re-
ported from mouth to mouth, why should
this disqualify him from acting as a Jury
man, when his oath requires him to re-
turn a verdict in accordance with the law
the evidence? His very capacity and
his admitted interest in the affairs of
are the safest arguments that he
will render a sensible verdict. He swears
conform his judgment to the law and
he evidence, and his superior intelligence
S the bend of his faithfulness. If the
'Nl1cHCS COuIldulCto LIS pIGflOuo luIOIuld-
ion, he will give judgment according to
he best and latest testimony. If the
are as he had previously heard them,
lie will simply apply the law and render
accordingly. The intelligent
nan who hears the facts weeks before the
rial will come to the same conclusion in {
he juryroom as if he had only heard them t
fter he was sworn into the box, if they t
re to the same effect. He may or he may |
lot have expressed an opinion, but if he i
5 such a citizen as is worthy to sit I
n Judgment between the law and {
is offenders, his verdict will be L
to the law and the evidence.
his is a matter of honesty and intelli- l
ence, and the more the juryman pos S
esses OF these qualities the nearer he .
ill come to declaring what is right. As a
n abstract principle it is absolutely i'm b
lateral whether the conscientious and o
apable juror has heard and judged the a