Would you trust a jury with your life?

[scotty77]

(Saw this on another forum)

You are to be put on trial for the next homicide case which happens to arise in the area that you live.

The prosecution team are to do their very best to convict you.

If you agree to go on trial, you get £1m.  If the jury votes guilty then you will receive life in prison or the death penalty, with no appeal.

Would you go on trial for a crime that you 100% did not commit, and that there should be no real evidence, for £1m. 

Could you trust 12 of your peers to come to the correct decision?

[cambridgealex]

Life imprisonment =/ death penalty

Which is it?

[DaveShoelace]

Life imprisonment =/ death penalty

Which is it?

If it's genuine life imprisonment, then both the same IMO.

To answer the question, no I wouldn't, people are stupid and easily convinced, especially in groups.

[DaveShoelace]

Sounds like the premise for a US gameshow btw

[AlunB]

Life imprisonment =/ death penalty

Which is it?

Assume it was a question for a US forum where many states don't have the death penalty so meaning the maximum sentence depending on where you live.

I wouldn't take the risk personally, but if there is genuinely no evidence then even if you were convicted you would have to fancy your chances at appeal. At least in the UK anyway. Not sure about the US.

[AndrewT]

(Saw this on another forum)

You are to be put on trial for the next homicide case which happens to arise in the area that you live.

The prosecution team are to do their very best to convict you.

If you agree to go on trial, you get £1m.  If the jury votes guilty then you will receive life in prison or the death penalty, with no appeal.

Would you go on trial for a crime that you 100% did not commit, and that there should be no real evidence, for £1m. 

Could you trust 12 of your peers to come to the correct decision?

It looks like ITV have found something to replace X-Factor.

[GreekStein]

106 views and 3 votes...did the other forum it was on get such impressive numbers?

[TightEnd]

after my jury experience (may just have been selection variance but still...) there is no sum of money that would make me consider this proposition

[TightEnd]

106 views and 3 votes...did the other forum it was on get such impressive numbers?

scrolling latest posts to view posts which i normally do i was unaware there was a poll. scotty doesn't mention it in his opening post either

voted now

[Doobs]

I think the problems with juries are much lower than people think, so you should definitely gamble and even if there is a slim chance, you can still appeal.  The chances of getting wrongly convicted twice with absolutely no evidence are pretty slim.  A fair few judges are just going to dismiss the case if no concrete evidence was presented by the prosecution. 

Mud sticks and all that, but I'd still be pretty happy walking away with a mill ball in my back pocket and with lots of choices on how I spend the rest of my days.  And those who believe you guilty despite the zero evidence are going to be a bunch of fuckwits I have no time for anyway.  Cheers

[DMorgan]

Having served as foreman for a jury I'd take a shot at the milly

[DaveShoelace]

Are the jury aware you get £1 million if found innocent? Could have some interesting meta game consequences (ie. extortion).

[Graham C]

I think the problems with juries are much lower than people think, so you should definitely gamble and even if there is a slim chance, you can still appeal.

Says in OP that there's no chance of appeal.

With no appeal I'd probably not do it, but with, for a million, I'd probably be tempted to give it ago.  I'd like to think that if there was zero evidence, you'd not get convicted.  I'd be interested in what the prosecution has to say if there's no evidence, a decent defence lawyer would have you straight out.

Voted no based on OP.

[ripple11]

Having served as foreman for a jury I'd take a shot at the milly

Served on a jury at The Old Bailey.......not sure I would 

[AlunB]

This is just a straight bet isn't it? Work out what you think the odds are and then the value for you in terms of life in jail versus £1m.

I think odds of wrongful conviction would need to be 10,000/1 for me to want to get involved. Maybe even higher. I suspect the true odds are a lot lower than that.

I know a few criminal defence lawyers and a lot of them say there is an element of randomness when you bring a jury into the mix. I think that's the polite way of saying what they say...