From convict to juror
There’s a reason that potential jurors are asked questions such as have you or any member of your family been convicted of a crime or been the victim of a crime. It’s too weed out those who might bring preconceived biases into a courtroom. The defense wouldn’t want a rape victim serving as a juror in a rape trial any more than a prosecutor would want a man recently convicted of endangering the welfare of a child serving as a juror in a homicide case where a mother stood accused of killing her adopted retarded daughter.
But that is what appears to have happened in the Helen Gillin trial last week. Thomas Andrus claims a county employee told him that as long as he hadn’t served jail time he was eligible to serve as a juror. But this is wrong.
If Gillin would have been convicted, an appeal would be nearly automatic. But she was acquitted and because of double jeopardy there will be no retrial. It’s senseless to speculate as to whether the outcome would have been different if Andrus wouldn’t have stood in judgment.
But there are hard questions that need asked and now. How did Andrus find a seat in the jury box? Every juror is supposed to be questioned about his or her criminal background. So how did this happen? Is the system faulty or did someone fall asleep?