"'Death is different,' and so is jury selection for Dontae Morris," is by Peter Jamison for the Tampa Bay Times.
Starting today, Dontae Morris will experience one of the American justice system's strangest and most consequential rituals: choosing a group of strangers who could decide whether he lives or dies.Jury selection begins this morning in Orlando for Morris, accused of murdering five men in the summer of 2010. The trial now getting under way involves the most heavily publicized of his alleged crimes, the killing of two Tampa police officers.
After a jury of Orange County residents is picked — Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Fuente is seeking people who have not been exposed to media coverage of the case — arguments and testimony will take place in Tampa.
And:
The goal is 12 ordinary people who can exercise the virtues expected of jurors in any trial — impartiality, thoughtfulness, close attention to factual and legal details — with something like perfection. The standard is not always met.
Herman Lindsey, a 40-year-old South Florida man who was exonerated and freed in 2009 after spending two years on death row for a murder conviction, said watching the jury deliberate over the value of his life at his trial was dispiriting.
"The people who are going to decide your fate — you got to understand, they don't know nothing about the law. A lot of them don't want to be there. A lot of them are inattentive," Lindsey said.
The state Supreme Court eventually reversed both his death sentence and conviction, ruling the jury's decisions were based on insufficient evidence.
The importance of seating a capable jury is clear in Florida, which has demonstrably failed in its administration of capital punishment more than any other state. Florida has seen 24 of its death row inmates exonerated in the past four decades, the highest number in the country.
Related posts are in the jury category index.
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