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Juries never hear important info

“Things you’ll never know if you serve on a jury” was the theme Gilmer Police Investigator Roxanne Warren followed when she presented a program for the Gilmer Rotary Club Tuesday (April 15) at the Gilmer Civic Center.

Under the Texas criminal code, prosecutors find certain subjects off limits, she said. These areas provide “food for thought,” the speaker added.

Jurors will not learn whether or not a defendant has a criminal history, Ms. Warren observed, and the defendant’s appearance as a clean-cut person in a nice suit will offer no clue that he may have been guilty of 13 offenses.

Also unavailable to the jury is the knowledge that when a person is convicted and sentenced to less than 10 years in prison, he or she can post an appellate bond and remain free as long as the case is on appeal.

The “exclusionary rule” dictates that if an officer obtains evidence incorrectly, the judge may rule it is inadmissible, Ms. Warren pointed out. For example, she said, 13 pounds of crack cocaine might be found in a house, but if the search warrant was not technically perfect, the drugs could not be mentioned in the trial.

Also unavailable to jurors is the real meaning of some life sentences. In Texas, she said, a life sentence equals 60 years and, with good behavior, the convict is eligible for parole after one-fourth of that time has been served. Only in certain cases, such as crimes involving use of a deadly weapon, or where personal injury has occurred, must the convict serve one-half of the 60-year term before getting parole eligibility.

In recent years, the Texas legislature has created the sentence of life without parole, but this applies only to capital crimes, Ms. Warren said.

She said Texas policies differ from the rules in federal courts, where 60 months means 60 months.

When prospective jurors are interviewed in the “voir dire” process, they may be asked by the prosecutor if they are acquainted with certain witnesses. The state has to disclose its list of witnesses, Ms. Warren said, but the defense does not have to.

She commented that juries sometimes spend many hours in the punishment phase of a trial on the question of how large a fine should be assessed in addition to a prison sentence.

“Realistically these fines are seldom paid, so a jury shouldn’t take up too much time on them,” she said.

Referring to the level of proof required of the prosecution, Ms. Warren said that juries sometimes get caught up on the meaning of “reasonable doubt.” Jurors sometimes think this means they must be convinced beyond all possible doubt before convicting a person, she said, but this is not what is meant by the prosecution’s “burden of proof.”

There are many unknowable things in a crime’s history that point to guilt but do not, alone, make the case, she explained. For example, she said, a fingerprint might be found at a crime scene, but it would not have the eight or nine points that pinned it to a certain person. Similarly, a Nike shoe footprint might be visible, but it would have come from one of four million shoes like it.

Ms. Warren called current attitudes among jurors part of the “CSI effect,” which has put police departments in a bind.

She referred to the TV program in which every crime seems to be solved through DNA evidence. This testing is very expensive, and justified only in high priority crimes such as murder, Ms. Warren said. Not knowing this, juries may sit around wondering, “why no DNA?”

The speaker was introduced by Police Chief James Grunden, who said she has been with the police department for nearly a year after serving for nine years with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, in which she rose to the rank of sergeant.

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