FAIRNESS
Should we move major criminal trials from the regions in which the alleged crime or crimes took place?
It is done in the name of fair play as an extra effort to make sure the accused gets a fair trial uninfluenced by personal associations of jurors with the incidents involved.
It seems clear that the current trials for the first of the two accused “Beltway Killers” might best be conducted other than in the immediate Maryland-D.C.-Virginia area as well as to the south down the Intestate 95 corridor. The first of those trials has just gotten underway at Virginia Beach, Virginia - the largest city in the Old Dominion.
It would seem to be a good choice as a place to hold such a trial. It is located out of the immediate area where the pubic felt some genuine - even reasonable – fear and apprehensions during the extended series of killings. It should be a city which is large enough to take care of the logistical needs of present day; large enough to allow for TV equipment without the entire community taking on the air of a carnival celebrations of some sort. It should also be a place where the media – now far more complex than many might imagine – may have sensible access as to the progress of events in the Court without undo restrictions which might encourage flawed reporting - which would also be unfair to the individuals being tried.
One purpose of such a move to to provide provide a more equitable jury for the accused, but the move does not make the difficulty of choosing a panel or, less important. With the means of communication as is is today, it is more or less impossible to find jurors who know “nothing” about the case at hand. They may not be sharply, influenced by such events; or they may not have formed a definite opinion from what little the do know. We would, I think , find anyone who declared he had no knowledge whatsoever of the crime, could be trusted to judge any one accused of committed the transgression.
Being “fair” about it all is important. In doing so we accent the better qualities within us - ethical standards. There will, however, this week be among us many individuals who will continue to say it is all foolishness claiming that, whatever we do, will be much “fairer” than were the accused gunmen as they gunned down innocent men and women.
a.l.m. October 13, 2003 [c432wds]
