The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-26
HOW vERDIcTS ARE MADE.
COMPROMISES ARE OFTEN NECEs-
sARY BEFORE JURIEs.

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Frequently. II Is Stated, In Damage
Cases, an Average Is Taken of the
Amounts the Jurors Individually
would Give and That Is Made the
Verdict--In Criminal Cases Jurors
Must OFTEN he willing to Give Way
In Their Opinions In order to
Avoid MistriRl
How do juries arrive at their verdicts3
How are their conclusions reached? The
deliberations. within the jury room are
supposed to be secret What Is said there
is not supposed 10 be mentioned again af-
ter the jury is dismissed, But. despite
this careful provision of the law TO pro-
tect jurymen from the fear of after con-
sequences from their debates, considerable
aftermath reaches the public ear and
gives some insight into the peculiar meth
DDS by which justice Is sometimes dealt
out
In a recent case in the City Court here
a woman sued corporation for $500, The
case was bitterly fought The jury was
cut some time and then returned with a
damages at S59O1. Considerable surprise
was expressed at this peculiar verdict, and
some trouble was taken to find how the
jury had reached it. Ii was learned that
ten of the jurymen were opposed TO giving
her any damages at ALL Two favored small
damages. 1t was finally decided to take
the total of the amounts these two want
ed the corporation to pay and divide it by
twelve. The amount thus arrived at was
20 be made the verdict. 1t was found to be
$50. q
Make it $59.O1,' said one OF the jury
men. Her lawyer will take the $50, and
that win leave the woman a cent, at
least
And so the verdict was returned
1t is said by the officials of the courts
who are in position to get pretty good
insight into the methods that exist in jury
rooms that this manner of getting an av-
erage of damages which would be assessed
by the various jurors and adopting it as
the verdict is not al all uncommon. AS a
rule the amount thus reached is of respec-
table proportions Many a verdict that
has been accepted by both sides or susr.
tanned by the Supreme Court, has no
doubt. been reached in just such a way
as this.
In a damage case in the Superior Court,
! in which a widow with several children
| sued a railroad company for heavy dam
ages for the loss of her husband, ID is said
that the verdict was got at by the jury
men first deciding what was the smallest
amount the widow and her children none
of whom was self-suppOrtng, could be
! supported for per month. When this was
reached to the satisfaction Of all the jury,
one of them figured out what amount it
would be necessary to invest at per cent.
to yield the family that income. The
amount thus reached was assessed as the
! damages the corporation ought TO pay for
the death of the man.
In civil cases. as in criminal, the sympa-
| thies of jurors are Frequently played up
on, or their prejudices indirectly appeal
| ed to, to secure a verdict Law and evil
dence are sometimes completely ignored
in the verdict that is returned Just what
a jury will do no one can predict with
any approach to i1faHlbility Judge, law
yers and Spectators are often nonplussed
| by the strange decisions that juries reach
| Sometimes friend on the jury, sometimes
| affiliation with a. secret society," or mem
bership in a church, cuts more weight
than the pleadings or the judges charge
Man in the jury box Is just like man on
| the outside, very vulnerable and very apt
| to be swayed, sometimes unconsoiously, by
| feelings that he would not be willing to
| acknowledge entered at all into his con-
! sideration of the case Bribery is of such
! a rare character that it may be said to
hardly exist. The shrewd lawyer and
the interested party by his side, scanning
the jury list, sometimes find it possible to
| get men on the jury who are known 20 be
biased, but that is az far as any direct
subversion of the law goes. At least,
there is no evidence here to the contrary
In criminal cases the verdcts are fire.
ouently the direct result of a compromise
IL may seem unjust TO the accused hut
| it is often found that the only way to get
verdict is for jurymen TO yield TO some
extent in their convictions as to his guilt
or innocence. After the jury in MUIR
der case, for instance, has retired, a fore
man is first elected, and then a vote is
taken, as a rule, directly on the question
as to whether the accused is guilty of the
| charge for which he was Indicted If all
| believe 1t to be a, clear case of murder
which is seldom indeed, In Savannah. the
| verdict is speedily made up, But where
| there is a diversity of opinion. the re-
verse is true. Some perhaps are for muir
| der, some for murder with a recommend
| alton to mercy, some for a lower grade
| of crime, and perhaps one or two may
| regard the accused as innocent. Whenever
| there is a man on the jury who con-
! scentiously believes the prisoner 10 be
| innocent a mistrial may be looked for,
| Such a man, in Justice to himself cam
not compromise. But when all think some
| punishment is deserved a conclusion may
| be reached on a middle ground. Murder
! is reduced to a crime that carries but a
| few years of Imprisonment instead of the
| death penalty or a life term, and all the
| jury when discharged feel that they have
done their duty If compromises of this
| character were forbidden there would be
| mstrials without number
As in murder trials, so in cases where
burglary is charged, compromises are
reached on the basis Of larceny from the
| house. Highway robbery is changed into
| larceny from the person, and so on.
Mistriais are doubtless sometimes
| the result of deliberate
intention Of one or two men,
| friends of the accused, perhaps, to acquit
! him. Occasionally TOO, they come from
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