New Orleans Republican., 1873-06-25
A FORCED JUROR.

The Nerold accepts the gossip of the
reporters Of The Times and P;cayu,e as
evidence sufficient to set aside the verdict
Of the jury in the case against the P!c0-
yune. But it will not bear analysis:
According to the Times, the jury being
called into court at 5 ?. NJ, the foreman
stated that they were not agreed, and
when it was proposed to send them back,
DAquin, one Of the .jurymen, said This
will be useless, for am convinced that we
will not come to any agreement"
Any one who is q. all familiar with
juries will herein recognize very COM
mon occurrence. It is natural for jury
men to disagree at first. and there are
usually two or three obstinate fellows on
the panel who make up their minds with
out much regard to the reason or the evil
dence Of the case. A. first they will not
listen to the arguments Of their compan-
ions. but manage to sc: called into court
to manifest their obstinacy. The judge is
held to commit a serious error who dis
charges panel apon the first request,
made in the fever OF irritation. 1t is a
very proper thing to do to send them back
for further deliberation. It is much bet
ter to do SO than 10 make a mis-trial and
put the parties TO the expense Of new
one. The sagacity Of Judge Lynch was
fully vindicated in this case. for the
same jury that told him at five
o'clock tha: they could not agree came
into court four hours later with a verdict.
Jurors like politicians are fond of an oc-
casion to define their positions. Mr..
D'Aquin, who was so certain at five o'clock
that he would never be able to convince
the eleven obstinate iurymen that his was
the correct view, possibly wanted to ex-
plain to the judge the manner in which be
had accomplished the feat in such short
time. But Judge Lynch very properly
excused him. Mr.. Haber, however, sue
ceeded in letting outa remark with a very
palpable handle to il. Said he accord
ing to the Tines: ''Well, Judge. they
forced US &c. it. We had to give in
This forcing Of a Juror vexes the pious
soul Of the Herald. astonishes the Times.
amazes the Bee. and horrifes the Pica-
ytne. What! an American judge sit by
in silence. while juror complains that he
has been forced to ngree to verdict!
Had Mr.. Haber been able triumphantly
to relate that he had forced the other ju-
ro-s 70 agree with him, there would
have been no occasion for the
interference Of the court. Bat for
the eleven 10 force the one. that
was tyranny. When "a jury retires to the
consultation room. unless they are already
of one mind, there naturally begins con-
test. and this is soMstimes a very earnest
and serious one. We 90 not mean the
jurors fall 70 physical blows. but they Use
the heaviest kind Q: Arguments, and one
OF the other Of the parties generally yields
the disputed point. This leaves the field
open 20 agreement. .l opposition having
been put down. for,ed down, the verdict
is made. Because the question Of DAM
ages divided the juryin the Picayunc case,
and Mr.. Haber finally surrendered his
opinion Che called it forcing), the Herald
insists that Judge Lynch ought TO have
set the verdict aside. OF sent the jury back
until Mr.. Haber and az many as were Of
his original way Of thinking could force
the other fellows 70 agree to such YER
diet as he wanted. The adoption Of such
practice would make it next to impos-
sible to ever get verdict from jury. for
there are few cases il which jurymen are
not forced to greater or less extent.