WHY HAVE JURY TRIALS?

WHY HAVE JURY TRIALS ? By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq. Sunday, May 14, 2017 This question may be unsettling to some people, “why have jury trials?” After all, trial by jury is the “palladium” of the American system of justice, according to Mark Twain, whose semi-autobiographical, semi-travelogue, book ROUGHING IT, that is set in the Civil war-era of Nevada. It decimates the jury system for its penumbral stupidity; exalting ignorance over knowledge. Having actively practiced law for thirty years, myself, twenty-three of them as a self-employed solo practitioner who represented plaintiffs, civilly, and defendants, criminally, I have known jury trials, like Mark Twain never did! But, I agree with his sage, albeit humorous, diatribe, lampoon of that system. The problems with jury trial are jury instructions and judicial meddling and management of jury trials. Why not dispense with jury trials and just let three-judge trial courts decide both the facts and law? That would kill two birds with one stone, and promote the possibility of justice, that is now nebulous.