[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] (OT) Crime and justice story in Shelly Hale land



(Some things you just can't make up!)

Attorney meets the 'jury pool from hell'
Sex, drugs and bias -- prospective jurors acknowledge all
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 Posted: 4:30 PM EST (2130 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/18/shallow.jury.pool.ap/index.html

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- Defense attorney Leslie Ballin called it the
"jury pool from hell."

The group of prospective jurors was summoned to listen to a case of
Tennessee trailer park violence.

Right after jury selection began last week, one man got up and left,
announcing, "I'm on morphine and I'm higher than a kite."

When the prosecutor asked if anyone had been convicted of a crime, a
prospective juror said that he had been arrested and taken to a mental
hospital after he almost shot his nephew. He said he was provoked because
his nephew just would not come out from under the bed.

Another would-be juror said he had had alcohol problems and was arrested for
soliciting sex from an undercover officer. "I should have known something
was up," he said. "She had all her teeth."

Another prospect volunteered he probably should not be on the jury: "In my
neighborhood, everyone knows that if you get Mr. Ballin (as your lawyer),
you're probably guilty." He was not chosen.

The case involved a woman accused of hitting her brother's girlfriend in the
face with a brick. Ballin's client was found not guilty.