The People V. . . . Episode Eight

This episode attempts to show the difficulties that occurred between jurors, Judge Ito, the lawyers on the respective sides, and even the public.  For the drama to work, the story had to be simplified.  The writers gave the impression that when there was a complaint against a juror, Judge Ito called in the suspect juror to discuss it.  The reality was that each complaint meant that the judge had to bring in someone from each legal team to be present as he questioned each juror (all twelve) so that no one juror would appear to be targeted.  Each juror had to be asked the same questions and then the judge would determine if the one who was complained about had done anything outside the rules and thus become disqualified and dropped from the jury.

In addition to the dozen who were originally named to the jury, there were an additional twelve alternates who sat in from the beginning of the trial as if they too were members.  The judge determined that the trial would be a long one and there would be attrition to the jury by health and possible behavior violations.  No one anticipated that the trial would last nine months and no one anticipated the kind of interactions that would arise when twenty four strangers would face a prison-like context as jurors.  The eighth episode attempted to dramatize that stress.

There were five major issues that caused stress, beyond the interpersonal issues that can arise when any people are stuck together and can't really get away from each other for a length of time:  one, competition between the prosecution and defense to remove jurors they did not want; two, "Stockholm Syndrome;"; three, actual violations of the rules; four, the nice hotel became prison-like because of the lack of ways to be in touch with the outside world; and five, the cultural values that differed between the Anglo group and the minorities, mainly the African American group.

One, the series writers made a great deal of the competition between defense and prosecution when the jury went through its turmoil.  In Jeffery Toobin's book, that competition was strongest during the jury selection.  While it may have been a concern in mid-trial, Toobin wrote that it appeared Judge Ito made a compensatory removal on behalf of the other side after having to remove someone who had violated the rules and was clearly partisan acted out in court room behaviors.  Toobin, when he did the second edition, was not concerned about Clark and Cochran competing.  The series writers turned it into a gripping story, though.

Two, the "Stockholm Syndrome" refers to how much friendships developed between the jurors and some of the deputies.  The series writers tried to show that.  There was real grief for some of the jurors when the deputies they had become friends with were pulled off duty without any warning or explanation.  The black outfits vs. the colorful ones that the jury wore into the trial one day was a demonstration against Judge Ito's changing of the deputies.  Those in black were showing their anger about the change and those in bright colors showed acceptance, probably because they thought the others had gotten special consideration from the previous group of deputies.  It probably would not have been an issue if one of the jurors had not complained several times that she was being sexually harassed (looked at) by one of the deputies.  Judge Ito took her at her word, having put her off twice, and then finally decided new guards might solve the problem.  As the episode showed, she was a troubled person and finally behaved in a bizarre way in order to finally get relieved of jury duty.

Three, there were complaints of getting news during conjugal visits, taking notes in order to write a book later, talking about the case instead of waiting until deliberations, and such violations.  There were several legitimate ones that led to removal of jurors.  The rest of the jury never was told why a particular juror was removed.  Each came as a shock because after they had all gone through the questioning in the judge's office, someone did not come back.

Four, the jury was intimidated not only by the isolation but by the deputies who controlled their lives day to day.  For two dozen people who were mostly minorities, it was scary to see a phalanx of Anglo sheriff's deputies telling them what to do.  Despite the circumstances, nearly everyone accepted their fate and cooperated because there wasn't a better option.  Besides, the rules made some sense in order for them to be effective as jurors. 

Five, the initial problem of the whites vs. minorities on the jury was clearly shown by the series writers in the scene about the choice of what VHS movie take to watch during breaks.  Toobin reported that the stress was eased by having a second TV in another room.  Not shown as well was the fact that the jury group overcame their differences once the crisis over the change of the deputies passed.  The series writers apparently wanted to leave the impression that the split between the jurors along ethnic lines was relevant to the verdict of the jury.  It will be interesting to see how they handle the few hours of deliberation the jury took to come to their verdict.  

Two more weeks and we will know.