I don't know what happened in the courtroom or the jury room at Sorum's trial, but it's likely that most jurors drive cars, and most of them have, at one time or another, committed some stupid lapse of judgement behind the wheel that could have killed somebody, except for dumb luck. So most jurors are predisposed to identify with the defendant in this case, and Eisenberg, who is one of the better defense attorneys in Wisconsin, knows how to exploit this tendency.
There are a few ways to respond to this. In this particular case, I think a prosecutor needs to make jurors understand that this lapse went beyond stupidity, and well into criminal territory. "Twelve seconds" sound like a short time, but if you count out twelve seconds while driving at highways speed, you'll see how far you can go in that time. Driving that distance while looking at your throat in the rear-view mirror is definitely crimiinally negligent. In the long run, we have to change public attitudes about lapses like these. People and law enforcement used to be pretty forgiving of drunk drivers. We're much more judgemental now, but it took a lot of education and propaganda to change attitudes. We need to do something similar to remind motorists of their obligation to avoid killing bikers and pedestrians. BFW's Ghost Bikes campaign is a good start in this direction, but there's obviously a lot to be done. Robbie Webber wrote: > Thank you Doug, that is exactly what I meant. I realize the jury system > is the backbone of our legal system, but it is also a reflection of what > "your peers" think is right and wrong. > > The fact that the DA might not be able to get a conviction, given the > evidence, is very sad. > > Doug Adler wrote: >> >> But I think what bothers many bikers in this case is not whether the >> legal >> system worked, but rather that the hung jury reflects all too well the >> current >> state of opinion in society. > -- > Robbie Webber > Bicycle Friendly Communities Coordinator > Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin > www.bfw.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
