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Comment by onewaystreet | Hacker News Reader

If you're guilty you want a jury trial. If you're innocent you want a bench trial.

That is not always true, it really does depend on the crime. Jury Nullification does still exist and is becoming more popular especially for things like Drug Laws.

Also some self defense cases are better for Jury, where as some may be better for a Bench Trial

It depends on if your guilt or innocent hangs on an emotional reaction, or a strict application of the law.

I've recounted my jury duty experience several times on HN (e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10056421). So, I won't retell the whole thing. The short version is it was a DUI trial for a guy having a party in his front yard and playing music (too) loudly from his truck. That is, he wasn't driving or planning to drive, but he was intoxicated with his keys in the ignition of an automobile – technically a DUI. I ended up being the sole not guilty vote. Technically, he broke the law, but I wasn't going to give the guy a DUI for that behavior – possibly a felony, probably lose/suspend his license, possibly lose a job, etc. Anyway, it was really hard to be the lone dissenter when everybody else just wants to be done and go home to their families or whatever.

I just wanted to comment that most people seem to be totally unaware of jury nullification, and you need to be careful explicitly mentioning the idea. Judges can and have removed jurors who are openly engaging in jury nullification.

So, educate yourself on the topic beforehand if you get a jury duty summons. Thankfully, I'd discussed the issue with a lawyer friend.

> That is not always true, it really does depend on the crime. Jury Nullification does still exist and is becoming more popular especially for things like Drug Laws.

How is that a counter-example to the guideline "if you're guilty you want a jury trial"? It sounds like you're saying if I'm guilty of drug possession I want a jury trial.

Yes, but you also want a jury trial if you're falsely accused of drug possession.

Some judges are anything but impartial, and are seemingly committed to getting a conviction at all costs. In fact this is one of the problems that the jury system is designed to protect us from.

An example: https://popehat.com/2013/08/09/the-proper-function-of-a-jury...

You're saying a jury will reach the wrong verdict more than 50% of the time, and a bench will reach the right verdict more than 50% of the time? I don't disagree, but are there statistics?

That's not necessary. If we assume that both juries and judges pick the correct verdict with a certain probability independent of what the correct verdict is, then all that is required that the jury has a higher probability of being wrong than the judge.

Yep, makes sense. So is there some kind of data to back up the claim that a jury is wrong more often? Perhaps verdicts are more likely to be overturned for juries?

This 100% unless the trial judge was elected.

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