Thursday, June 11, 2015
Bulletin: Deadlocked jurors attend retrial hearing for Pedro Hernandez, accused killer of Etan Patz; Newsday; Publisher's View: "If police and prosecutors cannot control them - or would prefer to use them to stack the deck in the State's favour in the retrial - the court should step in and order the activist jurors to cease public involvement. Pedro Hernandez is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial. Jurors from his previous trial should not be allowed to get in the way."
PUBLISHER'S VIEW: The connection that members of the jury panel by prosecutors and Pedro Hernandez for his recent trial is admirable. But their continued public involvement in the case - when they should have quietly disappeared into their everyday existences after performing the duty the State demanded of them - is an abuse of their role and threatens the fairness of Hernandez's retrial. If police and prosecutors cannot control them - or would prefer to use them to stack the deck in the State's favour in the retrial - the court should step in and order the activist jurors to cease public involvement. Pedro Hernandez is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial. Jurors from his previous trial should not be allowed to get in the way.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
"Seven jurors from the panel that deadlocked last month at the Etan Patz murder trial over the guilt of Pedro Hernandez unexpectedly showed up Wednesday at a hearing to schedule a retrial and then renewed their contentious jury room debate afterward. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley told lawyers in the 36-year-old case that he wanted jury selection to begin in December or January. His ruling was overshadowed by the presence of those on the previous panel, who said they hadn't put the case behind them. "I still feel invested," said health consultant Adam Sirois, the holdout on a jury that tilted 11-1 for conviction. He sat alone in the back row of the courtroom. "It was a very emotional case, very intense for all of us.".......Picking an impartial jury for a retrial is expected to be a challenge. The case got massive coverage, as did the declaration of Etan's father afterward that Hernandez was guilty. Jurors have spoken out frequently, and the majority even attended a memorial for Etan on the anniversary of his disappearance."
