Posted on 08/06/2006 9:44:38 PM PDT by xzins
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Attorneys for a man who has been sentenced to death say some members of the jury rushed to judgment because they needed a nicotine fix.
Tuesday the Ohio Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in the appeal of Phillip Elmore, convicted three years ago in the strangling of his ex-girlfriend in Newark.
Elmore's attorneys say that the fact the judge wouldn't let jury members smoke or step outside to smoke led them to make a quick decision.
That's one of 17 allegations the appeal makes. Lawyers for Elmore also say his trial attorneys were ineffective.
Hmmmmmm.........
Does this deserve an honored place alongside the famous "Twinkies Defense?"
Ping
Puff??? Justice went up in smoke?
Hmmmm, it couldn't be something else? Like maybe, ummmm, he was guilty as sin?
Nicotine does addict, why would this not matter when a liquor habit would?
I can see it now, any smoker wanting to get out of jury duty will ask if they can take smoking breaks during deliberations.
Well duh. If they had been effective he wouldn't be on death row now would he? Hopefully the appeals courts will have a similar ban on smoke breaks and expedite him to the gurney.
This will set a new screening process for jury selection.
I have jury duty in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll give it a try. I'll just ask if smoking is permitted in the jury room. Then a followup question would be whether or not I could be excused whenever I wanted in order to smoke a cigar.
I can cite this case as precedent that it could be error to allow smokers on a jury.
Too bad I don't smoke.
Nicotine freaks pacing back and forth in the jury room.
"Get to the point. What's the point? I wanna get my butt outta here, so let's get to the point. Whaddaya mean, I'm hyper? I'm not hyper. Just get to the point.
Speedy trial by his peers. Here's the speedy trial, bub. Ain't no discussion needed. He strangled the girl. Let's vote.
Get to the point. Gotta get outta here."
****Two voices, one male and one female, overheard on a plane:
"I think everyone's asleep, let's go"
"This one's empty ... no-one's looking... you go in first"
"It's a bit cramped - let me sit down"
"Have you got the condom? Quick - put it on"
Sniff sniff
"Ah perfume - you think of everything"
"This is great....." (long sigh)
Static on the loud speaker then a new voice.
"This is the captain speaking, to those two people in the rear toilet. We know what you're doing and it is expressly forbidden by airline regulations... Now put those cigarettes out and take the condom off the smoke detector!"
Perhaps there was no place for the smoking jurors to go without seeing passersby or picketers. But yes that ought to disqualify them as much as having an insatiable jones for heroin.
LOL. Geez, if I'm jonesing, I'm going to take all of 14 seconds to decide.
I went to a jury duty selection last year. One prospective juror said she had a blood sugar condition and had to eat something every hour - and that this would make her unable to serve jury duty. And yes, she was dismissed in the first round of people dismissed from that jury.
I have a better suggestion for this silly lawyer. He should have argued this (would be better than most of the appeals filed by liberal defense lawyers):
Defense Lawyer: "The jury sentenced my client to death because of my flatulence. You see, your honor, every time I approached the jury box I farted. Not just any ordinary fart, but a long gaseuous effusion of some of the smelliest lethal flatulence known to mankind. Naturally, the jury became seriously nauseuous, over and over again, and came to associate such vile flatulence with me, and thereby with my client. Now my client is unfairly sentenced to death, merely because the jury did not like the smell of my gasses. So you see you honor my client should be set free on the streets immediately. Thank you."
If you have ever been a smoker in a situation where you wanted to smoke but could not, this would not seem an unreasonable conclusion.
GW Bush...Karl Rove...9-11 conspiracy...bird flu...
You had me going there...
Santa Anita, the ponies, and cigars, too.
I was thinking. Those CavChap guys appreciate all the amenities! :>)
We all have that condition. It manifests itself by making us hungry.
If I was on a jury and in deliberations and I wanted to have a smoke and they said I could not take that break, I'd refuse to deliberate. What stupidity is it that someone would not allow a juror to smoke?
I know when I'm forced to go without for too long I feel like executing somebody.....
Will this mean the return of smoke filled jury rooms?
If you can't quit, you must acquit.
In case anyone is looking for a way to get out of jury duty, simply say, "Your honor, there is no way I can be fair to the defendant in this case."
Did non-smokers convict defendants needlessly before jury rooms were smoke free?
Deep in some of my long forgotten synapses, and please correct me if I am wrong....wasn't there a case a couple of years ago where the judge called a mistrial because some of jurors hinted that they had cut deliberations short because they wanted to get home and watch the latest "Survivor" or American Idol?
LOL!
You try it & get out of serving, every smoker before you that got tagged... "Why didn't I think of that?"
I've never served, though I got notified once. I was single, three kids, working 90 hrs a week for a small company & no one else could do my job. They never called me. Now that I'm no longer working, I'd love to serve. I do smoke though, so how fast do you think I'd get away with voting guilty, so I could get out for a smoke? :o)
That sounds vaguely familiar.
In addition, it sounds just like something that might sneak its way through our judiciary.
Contempt of court & I think a lot, if not all jails are smoke free... might motivate you to deliberate.
Grasping at straws? Or, should I say, cigs?
What next, smoking caused global warming from all the extra heat?
I know that feeling. Took a train half way across the country. Amtrack changed the smoking policy between our buying tix & our boarding that train.
no need. just ignore the summons. (they are not sent as reg. mail. there is no proof you recieved it or it was ever sent in the first place)
Then, the procedure changed and I could not avoid at least showing up to the selection fest.
The case was preliminarily presented, and, to try to make a long story short, the prosecutor asked each prospective juror "If I tell you that XXX was arrested for drugs, and If I tell you that the police car was checked before the morning shift that day, and If I tell you that while the defendant was found with no drugs, drugs were found in the back seat of the car, stuffed behind the seat, will you believe me when I say the defendant had drugs & is thus guilty of possession?" My response was, "Well, I'd want to hear what the defendant had to say". I was immediately dismissed as a potential juror. Satisfactory outcome.
Yeah, sure. As if lawyers and judges have never rushed through a case so they could go get a drink.
What's the "twinkies defense"?
I agree with this defense. I wouldn't want my fate decided by a jury that included addicts who are being denied their fix.
It gives new meaning to the old expression, "Dying for a smoke"...
If smokers were knocked off all juries, there would be more convictions -- knock 'em off...
This thread is too long.
We saved the juror's lungs and gave a hardened criminal the death penalty. Seems to be working to me.
I'd like to give the world a hug...
Some years ago in San Francisco (I think), someone (a councilman) killed another SF politician.
In his trial, a psych was called and testified that the killer was probably depressed, the evidence of which was that the former health food nut had started consuming junk food...to include Hostess Twinkies.
This caught an amused public's attention, and they began calling it in joking parlance, "The Twinkies Defense."
When I had jury duty in Cuyahoga County, the jury holding area had a smoking room and most judges even allowed smoking in the outer hallways.
-Eric
We saved the juror's lungsThis is none of the government's business.
-Eric
That would be nice except they all sat through the trial without smoking.
Cuyahoga County?
If you're allowed to breathe the air, you should be allowed to smoke.
:>)
The truth of that I can vouch for. I went with an attorney for ten years. The local pub was one block from the courthouse. Almost dumped my drink on a local judge when he "jokingly" said: "The only place for a good woman is under a man."
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