Man freed in jury mistake killed; suspect arrested

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – A burglary defendant who won his freedom because of a jury’s mistake lost his life a few hours later when he was stabbed to death in a fight.

Low life though he might have been, the late Mr. Pearson was not on trial for a capital crime. I suppose you could say that his life style was not conducive to a long and healthy life, but still.

You know that old joke about a jury being composed of 12 people not smart enough to get out of jury duty?

Jurors said they were confused by the forms, one of which was for a guilty verdict and the other for a not guilty verdict. One juror said there was no form they could sign to indicate a deadlock.

Apparently if the jury deadlocked, which they did, they were supposed to send the judge a note, not fill out one of the forms. Only that was too complex, so they just filled out a not guilty form, even though they were deadlocked at 8-4 in favor of conviction.

I guess that old joke isn’t all that much of a joke in this case.

I’m posting this one under the Sumdoap Chronicals, although in this case it appears that there were 12 of them.