Kilts on Jury Duty...

[MacMullen]

Nope, I was referring to some previous replies mentioning that it seemed like people with strong opinions about anything get disqualified. I only think that people with strong opinions about topics related to the trial get disqualified.

I understood your post, and I've heard the same problem repported a lot more frequently lately. I've never served on a jury, but I wonder if a judge could take a more active role in guiding the jury on what they should and shouldn't expect.

Craig

I know I said I wouldn't post again on this, but, I thought I'd explain myself a little more clearly.

Re: the trial I was called for, it's true, I do have a lot of strong opinions regarding teenage sex as well as underage drinking, and, they would likely have excused me from the jury for my opinion on what's moral and what's not, and if they had asked me, I would've said that, yes, I have a problem with that. When I said that we have morals dictated by society, I meant that, we do have laws, and, e.g., underage drinking is against the law, so I do have a moral problem with underage drinking in general. At that point in jury selection, they weren't asking the juror's opinion on the case, only on general morality.

But, of course, as was mentioned, in a trial, the jury is not called to decide what's moral or not. The defendant was not on trial for underage drinking, or for having sex. He was on trial for statutory rape. If the evidence or testimony showed that he had broken the law, I would've likely voted "guilty." If the evidence or the witnesses showed that he was not guilty, I would have voted, "not guilty."

There may be some things that are immoral in my view, but are not illegal. Again, if the evidence shows civic guilt or innocence, I would vote guilty or not guilty based on the law, not on my view of moral or immoral.

As a jury member, my job is not to decide moral or not. My job is, based on the evidence, to decide guilty or not guilty. But again, if the lawyer (or anyone else, ftm) asks my opinion on morality, I will give my opinion.