Most my life I’ve heard of the “he needed killin’” defense to murder. Someone so mean, so corrupt, so stupid, so guilty, that killing him is a public service, not a crime.
Lately, I’ve been hearing the “I’m too smart to do so something so stupid” defense. The first I can recall was a murder case against a doctor; his wife had been slashed to death. His response: “I’m a surgeon. If I were going to kill her, I would have made much neater cuts. I’m too smart to have been so messy.”
Last week it was a crime-scene investigator who’d been caught planting evidence. Says he: “I’m a crime-scene investigator. If I were going to plant evidence, I’m smart enough to hide the evidence of the evidence-planting better than that.”
I wonder if juries ever fall for the I’m-too-smart-to-have-done-something-so-dumb defense?
Having sat on quite a few juries, the answer is YES.
There is always someone who falls for that crap and unless the jury foreman can convince them to change their vote, then the jury is in for the long haul.
And then there is the “he seems like such a nice man” . . . only for the jurors to find out as a school janitor, he was selling dope to High School kids
Or “he’s too good looking to be a serial killer” despite the evidence of body parts found in his apartment.
Or . . .
You get the picture. There is always some bleeding heart who feels sorry for the defendant–what about the victim??
Scary, Mags, how easily people can be fooled.
I’ve never been on a jury before.Got called once in South Carolina, returned the card that I’m a sole proprietor, and never been called since.
I wonder . . . if the court locks you in a jury room with a bleeding heart who ignores the facts and you somehow find yourself with your hands around his/her throat, can you avoid assault charges by claiming, “You put me there against my will, so I’m not responsible”?
It came close with one old woman. The foreman pointed out that we had to take the facts of the case into account, not that he was a “nice man”, which he wasn’t. It was an insurance case and since the dope charge didn’t have anything to do with it, none of the jurors found out until we walked out the door!
I never get selected because of my views. Wonder why?
I get such a laugh from the dumb excuses!!
Aw, your views are fine. It’s your boldly stating them out loud that gets you a polie “thank you you’re excused go home”.
Geez, Meg–last time I was up for jury duty it was for a murder trial, I tried EVERYTHING I could to get off it! I’ve sat on murder trials before, but it was really, really inconvienent for me to be on a jury at this time.
I said I believe in the death penalty.
My niece worked in the prosecutor’s office.
I told the judge I was a writer.
I mentioned all the research I had done and my prior knowledge of police proceedure
–and the judge STILL wouldn’t send me away during the voir dire challenges! The prosecutor excused me when they were picking their final 14 from the 20 that were questioned. *whew*