Jury Acquits Randall Terry, 4 Followers
According to the jurors, the Operation Rescue defendants were acquitted because the jurors either agreed with the defendants’ politics or objected to the manner in which they were arrested. To reach this verdict the jurors either misunderstood or ignored the law and the judge’s instructions.
Of course, such an emotional verdict can just as easily result in conviction of an innocent defendant as in acquittal of the guilty.
Proponents of the death penalty should have some second thoughts in light of this verdict. The jury system on the whole operates well.
However, the Operation Rescue case shows it is not a system which operates with unfailing accuracy, and it is not a system upon which we should bet anybody’s life.
JOHN HAMILTON SCOTT
Van Nuys
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