[speaker001:] I think that, uh, one, uh, advantage of having, uh, the unanimous verdict is that in a criminal case you want to make sure that you don't, uh, convict someone who, uh, really shouldn't be convicted.
[speaker002:] Definitely.
[speaker001:] Um, and I think that, you know, a unanimous verdict, uh, helps to ensure that. I guess maybe one drawback of it is that if you have one juror who is very unreasonable in some way, that, uh, you, uh, would have a problem, uh, you know, that you wouldn't convict someone who maybe should be convicted.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Have you ever served on a jury before?
[speaker002:] Uh, I have twice.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] It was a pretty wild experience.
[speaker001:] Uh, what sorts of cases were they?
[speaker002:] They were just, you know, small time cases where, uh, trailers and banks were involved, you know.
[speaker001:] So were they criminal or civil?
[speaker002:] They were civil. They weren't
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] they weren't any criminal.
[speaker001:] What, uh, what was the verdict? Did the, did the jury have trouble reaching a decision?
[speaker002:] Uh, the jury, it was, uh, let me see, I think it was ten to one on the jury, because they only had to have eleven people
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] so it was, they, and, uh, the one changed his vote at the end.
[speaker001:] So did it become?
[speaker002:] So it became unanimous, you know, after they turned it in
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and then he changed his mind after they turned it in
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] but it then became unanimous.
[speaker001:] Uh. But since it was a civil case it really didn't matter, right? You just needed a majority?
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] What was, what was the other case? That was also civil?
[speaker002:] The, the other case was just traffic, the, and, you know, it was seat belt law
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and it, it didn't even hardly
[speaker001:] Oh, didn't really even count.
[speaker002:] go through, so.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I'm, I'm a college student so I haven't been, you know, a jury eligible age for very long
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] um, and, uh, I did get one summons actually at one point, but I declined it which I'm able to do because I'm a student, because it was, uh, a very bad time.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, you learn a lot going to the juries like that though.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I mean, I, I really, I would like to, uh, to do at some point, um, but, I, I haven't. Uh, one, one thing that I, I think is, um, you know, maybe is a problem is, uh, I, I think that the criminal jury system works pretty well now, but I wonder if maybe in some civil cases it doesn't work as well. Especially sort of.
[speaker002:] I wouldn't think that it does
[speaker001:] How, wha-,
[speaker002:] I mean, from, from my, from what I experienced in them, it didn't, you know, it didn't turn out the way I planned it, I mean, the way that I would think that it would go.
[speaker001:] Uh, you thought it turned out pretty well?
[speaker002:] Yeah, but it was, you know, it was, jury was unorganized and it was, it was just wasn't organized enough for me.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I'm not used to it not being organized, and I just assumed that it would have been.
[speaker001:] Oh, so it was just kind of a zoo and the jurors just sort of, someone had to figure out what was going on?
[speaker002:] That's about what it was.
[speaker001:] Um. That's interesting. Did it, did it work out pretty well in the end? I mean, did a couple of people sort of gradually, sort of assume, uh, sort of a moderator role in the trial or,
[speaker002:] Yeah, they, well they picked one person, and then he finally, you know, moderated everything and made it turn out the way it should have.
[speaker001:] So it work-, it did end up working out pretty well?
[speaker002:] Yeah, it ended up working all right.
[speaker001:] The one thing I sometimes wonder about, um, in civil cases is, uh, whether, especially sort of in, uh, maybe like pro-, product liability, or medical malpractice, where there's, um, sort of a very technical decision to be made sometimes
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] you know, it's not just a matter of, um, of, you know, did this guy rip off this guy, and it's just a matter of interpreting a contract, it's sort of a matter of, um, you know, sometimes getting into very technical issues, and I wonder if, uh, if there's really, um, if the system works adequately in, in educating the jurors about, uh, whatever, um, you know, issue is under discussion.
[speaker002:] I, I don't think that they, they, they educate them enough to, to really know what's going on.
[speaker001:] In, in the case you were involved in, you said it was just sort of a bank matter of some kind. So.
[speaker002:] Yeah, the, the bank was suing them for, uh, because they went to get the, the trailer
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] that, which was, uh, seemingly their property.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] It was on his property.
[speaker001:] Oh, so the deal was that he had, uh, borrowed money from the bank to buy it, and
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] he hadn't made the payments.
[speaker002:] So they came to get it.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And then when they came to get it, well, it was on the landlord's property and he wouldn't let them take it off.
[speaker001:] Uh, so they were suing to get it back.
[speaker002:] So, and they are, it was a double wide, so they'd already taken it apart.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] So they left it there
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and then when they came back to get it a couple of days later it had rained and got all in it.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] So they were suing him for the money, and, you know, there's no way they could because it, it was the moving company,