A jury has now been selected in the murder trial of Bobby Cutts .. set to begin on Monday.A courthouse spokesman tells me that of the six men and six women who were chosen, all are Caucasian. Six alternates were also chosen (3 men and 3 women) which included one African-American as an alternate.
I don't yet know if the defense will make the lack of minorities on the panel to be a legal issue at the last pre-trial set for Friday morning, but others in the community will certainly weigh it in the discussion.
In November, Myesha Ferrell was prepared to go to trial but accepted a plea bargain just as opening statements were to begin. Her jury was also a panel of 12 Caucasians.
Cutts, who is black, faces the death penalty if convicted in last year's murder of Jessie Marie Davis and her unborn child. Davis was white.
Will an all-white jury deciding a possible death penalty of a minority make a difference? Or after weeding through 800 potential jurors, is the racial makeup a non-issue? I'm interested to hear some differing views.
3 comments:
Could that choo-choo sound I hear from down in Stark County be the sound of the train on which Bobby Cutts, Jr. is going to be railroaded to the death chamber at Lucasville?
I'm not defending Cutts; but the composition of the jury has me worried whether or not he gets a fair trial.
Isn't it time we get rid of barbaric things like death sentences? We are not a civilized society yet.
An uncivlized society wouldn't bring justice to someone who deserves it.
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