Great Movie Quote About Juries

In Anatomy of a Murder (1959), the parties are waiting for a jury to return a verdict in a murder trial in small town Upper Peninsula Michigan, nervously passing the time. The old lawyer who has been helping the Jimmy Stewart character leans back, looks at the ceiling, and says:


Twelve people go off into a room... Twelve different minds, twelve different hearts, twelve different walks of life. Twelve sets of eyes, ears, shapes, and sizes. These twelve people are asked to judge another human being as different from them as they are from each other. And in their judgment, they must become of one mind, unanimous. That's one of the miracles of man's disorganized soul that they can do it... and in most instances, do it right well. [Pause] God bless juries.

Dyleski Murder Trial Continues; Rich Comments

Link to KTVU-2 footage of Rich: http://www.ktvu.com/video/9641231/index.html

The murder trial of Scott Dyleski continues in Martinez, California, on the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay. This link is to some tv commentary I did this morning. Dyleski was 17 years old at the time that he is accused of murdering Pamela Vitale, wife of lawyer Daniel Horowitz. The defendant was a "goth" kid (cultural meme alert: Condition Black Trenchcoat). I make the observation that this plays into certain post-Columbine assumptions that the general public has about kids who go "goth" and talk about violence.

Claudine Wong of KTVU-Channel 2 News is the best court reporter on television in Northern California, without question. She gets court procedure and context, and is able to explain it very succinctly yet accurately for lay audiences.

I also promise that my next blog posting won't be a video clip or self-referential.

By the way, before any of you who know me asks the obvious question: a few days ago, I had a small cyst removed from my eyelid, so I am forced to wear glasses for a bit, and the bruise is from the needle that delivered the anaesthetic.