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Originally Posted by gwross
I agree that a juror shouldn't be dismissed without reason, but that's not what the article says. It says "The judge did not disclose his reasoning." You're not suggesting, are you, that the judge should be required to disclose his reasons to the media? I don't think I need to know all the jurors' personal affairs which might result in them being dismissed from a jury.
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Absolutely, there's only one condition where a judge should not disclose the reason for letting a juror go and that is that if the reason would violate the juror's personal privacy. For instance, if a juror has to leave due to a death in the familly the judge should tell the media, "the juror was dismissed by request do to personal matters."
Who knows...the male juror could have been dismissed because he was the only one who thought Mr. Peterson was innocent, and that was the reason he was dismissed- to avoid a hung jury.
I have been involved in matters of the legal system where if what was happening behind the scenes got media coverage there would be a public outcry. That is why I am for as much open coverage as reasonably possible.