Clancy trial ends in a travesty of justice

The Lindsay Clancy trial has captivated the media and the viewing public for weeks. The trial was televised - a weird concept for me; this is NOT entertainment! - although the jurors' deliberations were not. (Maybe they should have been if this is really to be reality TV.)

In the end, it was those jury deliberations that provided the big story, because 11 of the 12 jurors voted to acquit Ms. Clancy on the grounds that postpartum psychosis clouded her judgement and made her not criminally responsible. One juror, even after extensive debate, voted against the majority and, because a jury verdict needs to be unanimous in this kind of criminal trial, the jury was therefore hung, and the judge had no choice but to declare a mistrial. Seven weeks of work on the part of many people wasted just like that.

Thing is, though, now that the trial is over. other jury members are offering a glimpse of what actually happened behind those closed doors. It tutns out that the dissenting juror, who is charitably described as "arrogant", actually admitted to the other jurors that "he had reasonable doubt", which is all that is needed to trigger a vote for acquittal. But, in spite of that, the maverick juror insisted that "I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity".

So, the holdout juror seems to have misunderstood the way the law works, and nothing the judge or the other jurors could say could change his mind. What a travesty! If that juror ever becomes publicly known, he should probably watch his back. He should also be banned from ever serving on a jury again.