Justice William Bedsworth Bedsworth: The 13th Juror
I was unfailingly impressed with how hard jurors worked and how desperately they tried to do the right thing. They aren't perfect—any more than the doctors and bridge-builders and airline pilots to whom we daily entrust our lives are perfect.
August 26, 2020 at 08:09 PM
9 minute read
Mark Twain said it quite well: "We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding 12 men every day who don't know anything and can't read."
Most of what Twain said about the justice system was said in 1873. His spleen was vented throughout much of that year because of a New York murder case that caught his attention. It was a high-profile case that involved the drunken assault by a working man on a wealthy New York "gentleman." It turned upon whether a drunk could form the requisite intent for a first-degree murder verdict.
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