FL- What do jurors really know about a criminal case?

For decades, the ubiquitous sign above every Miami-Dade judge’s bench has delivered a lofty reminder: “We who labor here seek only the truth.”

But one lawyer in a triple murder case wants the venerated sign taken down —because the truth is, jurors during a trial aren’t always allowed to see the whole truth, meaning all the evidence collected by police.

“Truthful evidence may be excluded” by a judge before trial, attorney Louis Jepeway Jr. wrote in a recently filed motion, asking Circuit Judge Nushin G. Sayfie to remove the sign. “The sign invites the jurors to speculate when they sense that there is evidence that has not been introduced.”

Jurors, in criminal cases, aren’t asked to discover what happened but to rule whether prosecutors showed enough evidence of guilt. Casey Anthony, the Orlando mother acquitted of slaying her toddler daughter this past week, was found not guilty — she wasn’t found innocent, a concept often lost on the general public.

Lawyer Bruce Rogow, a Nova Southeastern University law professor, applauds Jepeway’s effort and says the sign “perpetuates” the myth of the jury’s role. “The truth, in a criminal trial, is whether the prosecution proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Rogow said.


Link:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/09/2307317/truth-be-told-miami-dade-court.html