Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
When should you poll the jury? Generally speaking, when you lose. But how about when you win? Maybe it's not such a great idea. Juries makes the point today in a post about a Washington state criminal trial in which a defendant’s attorney decided to have the jury polled after it had returned its verdict – a “not guilty” verdict. The very first juror polled by the judge stated that she did not in fact agree with the verdict and so the jury was sent back for further deliberations. Upon further review the jury came back with a unanimous verdict of “guilty” on a charge of vehicular assault. Oops.
