Dismissed juror was only juror to not wear a red T-shirt on Valentine's Day

[Venus Dog]

"The woman who was dismissed from the jury is an art history expert and scholar who formerly served as a curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was also the only juror who did not wear a red T-shirt as part of the jury's Valentine's Day greeting to the court."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17342157/

This really stinks to high heavens! What was the significance of them wearing red T-shirts and how could this have been allowed? There's more to this and it really reeks

:mad:

[tanyev]

1. I can't fault her for that.

I always wear something completely different whenever it's "Wear ______ Day".

[Solo_in_MD]

12. I've been known to wear orange or a blackwatch tartan on St Patricks Day

[Cass]

2. The red t-shirt thing was really odd.

They wore the shirts to send Valentine greetings to the court. If they are there for St. Patrick's Day will they wear green shirts with shamrocks? Maybe I'm just an old stick in the mud but I would have declined to participate in the red shirt thing, too. It seemed to undercut the seriousness of the case, IMO.

[PLF]

3. and it's not the juries job to suck up to the court.

[KoKo]

14. No one seems to have picked up on Who gave them the Red Shirts?

The whole stunt (appeared to be a stunt) seemed so odd for a Jury and inappropriate. First reports made it seem like just a funny display for Valentines Day...then the story mentioned that the one juror didn't go along...and speculation that the Jury might be signaling that she wasn't "one of them" because her opinion differed. But, this was before the jury went into deliberations...so wouldn't it seem odd for a jury to appear in unison leaving one participant out before they even were supposed to be deliberating?

Where did they get the red shirts and what were they trying to do. Scooter might be able to use that stunt for a re-trial. :shrug:

[displacedtexan]

4. Here's the significance regarding the axed juror...

Schuster (MSNBC) reported this morning that she (Edna) didn't just accidentally
learn about the Libby trial over the weekend. She actually looked for
info, herself.

Now, that really stinks.

What stinks about the T-Shirts?

[Venus Dog]

5. Who asked the jurors to wear red T-shirts?

This is IMO a very unusual thing to happen in a courtroom, especially one that is trying perhaps one of the biggest cases in our history! Does no one else find this extremely bizarre given these people have been known to use quite a bit of "symbolism" - crutches, black hats, aspens turning? Or is it just me :crazy:

[displacedtexan]

6. I also find the t-shirt thing a bit weird, but jurors are just people, after all.

And people do weird things all of the time.

The first thing I thought of was "Runaway Jury," when John Cusack's
character sent a chilling message to the defense (with that Pledge of Allegiance
stunt).

[Venus Dog]

7. The T-shirts also had a white outlined heart over the heart area

Like a target. I guess I was thinking more in terms of The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

"Normally jurors do not speak in trials until the last day. Not the jurors in former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s perjury trial.

Valentine’s Day broke their silence early.

On the last day of testimony Wednesday, the 12 jurors and two alternates came into court with a surprise: Thirteen wore red T-shirts with a white heart-shaped outline over the heart.

A retired math teacher on the jury rose and thanked U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton and other court personnel for taking care of “our safety and comfort.”

Then, pledging the jurors would adhere to their oath of impartiality, he turned to address the defendant and the lawyers and offered: “Valentine’s wishes to you all.”

The entire courtroom applauded.

Only one female juror, an art historian and former museum curator, didn’t wear a T-shirt."

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/6369953p-5682603c.html



:wow:

[displacedtexan]

8. Interesting, isn't it? The one juror not joining in was the one...

...who was eventually axed for not "adhering to their oath of impartiality."

[KoKo]

15. No...it's not just you...I posted above asking where they got the T-Shirts

and why where they got them hasn't been mentioned. And, the juror who is thrown off is the only one not wearing one. Aspens, crutches (Libby, Russert) and I don't know about "black hats," but something is very odd.

[H2O Man]

19. Do you advocate

a dress code for jurors?

[TahitiNut]

20. It makes me wonder whether she was dissenting from the prevailing jury posture ...

... and felt pressured into gathering information to support her viewpoint. Of course, this neither apologizes her violation of the judge's instructions nor offers 'proof' about whether she was taking a 'guilty' or 'not guilty' position, but it seems to indicate bullying ("get in step, citizen!") in the jury - also intolerable. Any jury that uses mob pressure to coerce compliance to 'groupthink' is, imho, engaging in unethical behavior.

[Earth_First]

9. "Thirteen wore red T-shirts with a white heart-shaped outline over the heart."

You see, it's the unlucky "13" that strikes deeper into the story yet. Bad news for Scooter.

:sarcasm:

See, I can over analyze too!

[yy4me]

10. My thought upon seeing the t-shirts was about lack of

dignity. This was a courtroom, not a friendly meeting of neighbors. Perhaps it is old-school of me but I feel that jurors should be well dressed when called to serve. Wearing red t-shirts does not fit my idea of proper clothing for a trial juror. Whether the dismissed juror read information that was not allowed is a separate issue from the wardrobe, in my opinion.

[AlCzervik]

11. maybe she thought she was on a jury and not a middle school pep squad?

i wouldn't have worn it either.

[UTUSN]

13. Totally BIZARRE & stinks. T-shirts vs no-T is ostracism, bias

Addressing the DEFENDANT & HIS LAWYERS and wishing them happy V-day? And the entire courtroom applauding? What the eff is THAT about? Sure sounds like they are communicating a FIX!!1 Why would their so-called "impartiality" be emphasized to the DEFENDANT in particular? It's their ROLE to be impartial. Addressing the defendant is certain to give EXPECTATIONS to him.

[dogday]

16. Yeppers, she would not fall in line with the others

and that means absolutely nothing, nada... She is entitled to wear or not to wear... She marched to the beat of her own drum and that is not a bad thing...

[Catherine Vincent]

17. That was odd and should not have been allowed.

Would they have done the same if they were in a jury for a defendant where they would determine if s/he would get the death penalty?

[Sequoia]

18. Remember another juror who got kicked off for wearing a Star Trek uniform?

Some years ago and a pretty well know case which I sure don't remember.

[KoKo]

21. kick....