SOCIETY: Racism in the Jury Room?

You have heard me talk about the corruption in Detroit and especially in the old Detroit City Council where Monica Conyers (wife of Congressman John Conyers) is going to jail for accepting bribes (she made a plea deal). Well, her partner in crime, the man that went and asked for the bribes (Sam Riddle) went on trial in federal court for corruption and got off Scott free.

Here is the kicker, the only black juror on the jury (female) decided before deliberations even began that she is not convicting a black man. A similar story occurred last year where a man accused of a brutal rape and murder of a college girl at Eastern Michigan University also walked free after a lone, female black juror, refused to listen to evidence and caused a mistrial.

The Sam Riddle case will cause more waves since the eleven (11) non-black jurors are speaking out that the whole fiasco was racially motivated and that race has no place in the jury room. In the past, a black could not get a fair trial from an all white jury (usually down south) but here and now, things appear to have reversed.

Sam Riddle’s lawyer complained to the judge before the trial that juries in the Detroit Metro area are mostly white and the city is majority black. He wanted the judge to declare that Riddle could not get a fair trial here since he cannot be tried by a jury of his peers; the judge denied the motion.

Is this O.J. Simpson type phenomenon wide spread where black jurors won’t convict a black man or woman on principle and not on evidence?

Even my super liberal wife thought that something is wrong here; her recommendation, do away with the rule where all twelve (12) jurors must agree (unanimous vote) and go to where only a simple majority vote can convict. I am not sure if we are ready to re-write our legal code but she may have a point.

I am more interested in the motivation that would allow a rapist / murderer free based on the color of his skin. Many are saying we now live in a post-racial society after Obama was elected president and I feel that at least on the white side, there a lot fewer racists (that I can detect) than in the past and I feel as a whole, our society maybe closer to being color blind than at any time in our history but I never looked at the situation from the other side.

The occurrence of this phenomenon is problematic if it signals a trend. The money wasted in re-trying these criminals is substantial but the social and cultural ramifications are considerable since again people will generalize these incidents into a stereotype we as a society, do not want to get into again.

I am going to watch if any commentary appears on this issue. Our papers have placed this on the front page so obviously; they are not sidestepping this issue but inviting comments. I will also be watching the reaction of white and black leaders in the community to see if there is any courage out there to broach the subject as a problem that needs to be addressed…