The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-20
JURY TRIAL.

ui--ioncrs haze an important re-pon-
=ibihty resting on them. They are re-
quired to select only such persons a
are Of good moral character and OF sui
ficient intelligence It is a rare thing
TO see many Of the most intelligent
men Of a county on the jury and at
most only few. and they are gener-
ally taken Of BY tie lawyers on one or
the other side, who make use Of the
peremptory or other challenges, allow
cd by law, to benefit their clients.
Then the tales jurors are summoned
bv the sheriff from the bystanders.
This gives the sheriff too much power.
If he IS an old officer he IS apt to be
friendly to one or the other side, and
if inclined to do 80 can select the
friends Of either side into the box and
we understand that friends Ct defend
ants, especially, are often gathered
from over the county and purposely
put in view OF the sheriff 50 he will he
ait To call them IN the box, not know
ing that they are friends Of defend
ants.
"BesIdes all this, the bystanders are
not the proper persons for tales jurors.
They are apt to be parties or witnesses
IN some other cause and may use the
Jury service to benefit their special in
terest or they may be idlers hanging on
cor a Job, and as such are unfit to pass
upon important questions, requiring
good judgment and an appreciation Of
the grave responsibility resting upon
jurors
Every juror, tales or otherwise
should be drawn from a we'll purged
jury box This would be troublesome
bat nothing should be in the way OF a
fair trial
a tales Juror, who has served as :
grand, petit or tales juror within two
years preceding the term Of court, may
he challenged by either side The fact
that person has recently served as :
juror ought not to dlsqualify him, but
rather to recommend him. To say
that his experience dlsqualifies him i
a reflection on the system. This cause
OF objection is used mainly to enable
| ingenious lawyers to take off objection
able jurors and nave the friends Of
their clients, VINO may be of the by
ISLANDERS called into the box.
~Another. and a very serious defect
which we notice, Is the great dIsad-
vantage the State labors under III
criminal trials Ia the trial of misde-
meanors and ielonies, not capital, the
State has in all two peremDtory chal-
| Ienges OF Jurors, while the defence has
/ four to each defendant and in capital
cases the State has four peremptory
challenges to each defendant, and the
! defence has twenty-three to each
This Is the explanation Of SO many &C
quittals OF guilty men.
rs an example, take the late case
for burning tried in this county, with
/ tour defendants. The State could take
off only two jurors peremptorily-
that is, without assigning any cause
such Is relationship. having formed Al
/ opinion, etc. while the defence cOulC
take off sixteen peremptorily. Hi!
practically amounted to allowing tht
defence to select its own jury-ane
they got good one, for them.
This also explains the outrageou
verdict III the Shemvell ease, the yer
diet IN Cartcret county in the insur
ance fraud cases, and the still more re
cent verdict IL the Bonner lnurde
case, where cold-blcod murderers go
off with term IN the penitentiary
whereas they deserved death.
Able and shrewd lawyers with the
aid OF influential clients and their rel
atives and friends, can, with the law a
it now IS pick Just such jury as they
| desire. The blame Is not SO much il
the lawyers or their clients. so long a:
they do not resort to corruption, but
the fault is III the Jury system
Tie names of only the best men
ought TO be put in the jury box. The
| law disqualifying those who have re
Gently served ought to be abolished
Tales Jurors ought not to be selected
by the sheriff nor from the bystanders
| Each side ought 10 be entitled to the
same number of challenges in GRIMM
al is well as civil cases The reply tc
the last we understand, is that the
State being more powerful than the
defendant ought not to have the same
| advantage. This is plausible but not
sound. The State furnishes a prosecut
ing attorney but the defence IS nearly
always, especially III important cases
represented by local counsel who have
! the advantage Of the State in selecting
| a jury and when the defendant is IN
able to employ counsel, the court Gar