COMPLAINTS ABOUT JURIES HAVE LONG LOCAL HISTORY...Pg 2

A key to avoiding wrong decisions by juries was, in his estimation, to get "more intelligent men to sit in the jury box." The jury selection process should not be used to deprive the parties of the wisdom intelligent people can bring to the deliberation. General Amos also wanted more justice "that strikes at the facts of the case" and less "hair-splitting points of law spun out by the judge upon the bench."

With the technicalities of the law, Amos felt that "many escape the responsibilities of their acts." Gen. Amos echoed sentiments often heard today: "Let the law be amended so as to give the criminal a fair and speedy trial to an intelligent jury."

In the years that followed, the jury process continued to be a hot topic of discussion. In 1923, the Sidney Daily News ran a story about concerns involving the jury system. Citing a disturbing trend that men of means were using any available means to avoid jury duty, the Daily News asked "Is that patriotism...to leave jury work to the man of the street who is glad for the fee it pays because he is not worth that much anywhere else?"

The recently concluded Simpson case has been rightly criticized for being as much about entertainment as justice. A century ago, before the advent of television, trials in Sidney were public scenes of high drama. Three years after the new courthouse was completed in 1881, the common pleas judge remodeled the court room, substantially reducing its size. The Democrat complained that only 154 spectators could now be seated as opposed to the usual 300. In the early days, as many as 500 would watch a trial. Today, few people ever view the proceedings.

Another frustrating thing about juries is their penchant to do the unpredictable. In 1894, the Shelby County Democrat reported a story told by Judge Goode. He had presided over a jury trial involving a man charged with theft. When the presentation of the evidence was completed by noon, the judge charged the jury and sent them out to deliberate, without allowing them to go to lunch. One of the jurors said "I will be damned if I will stand for this." The man apparently left, and the jury was never discharged its deliberations. The Democrat noted that the jury is presumed by law to still be deliberating.

Again in 1995, many are clamoring for the elimination or substantial curtailment of the right to trial by jury. General Amos told his readers in 1884 that "We sometimes hear (of) persons opposed to a trial of facts by jury, or speak of the uncertainty of a verdict of a jury." But the problems with the system are "due to the liberality of the law, and not the jury system itself," Amos wrote.

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