Fear the Jurors 

   It was 1995. I returned to the office to be greeted by coworkers gathered around a radio. They wanted to know my prediction. 

   A "jury of his peers" was about to reveal their decision. Was O.J. Simpson guilty or innocent in this "trial of the century." 

   I hadn't mastered all the evidence, but we know his blood matched that found at the scene of the murders. It was found in his Bronco, several places in his home, on his size XL glove, and he had fresh cuts on his hand. 

   DNA was a new wrinkle at the time. It and other evidence may have been mishandled. 

   O.J.'s "peers" would be those living in his upscale neighborhood. Or his fellow athletes and Hollywood actors. Not in this case. The trial was in the inner city.

   I confidently said to my coworkers...GUILTY.  

   How broken - America's system of justice. How timely - on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the planners now in Gitmo are still on trial. Someone predicted they will never be executed, just die in prison - at the cost of $13 million per defendant per year. 

   Our justice system was designed to punish wrongdoers while protecting the rights of the innocent. Joel Belz in WORLD magazine thinks many of us have lost confidence that justice prevails. 

   Look at the convicts or those accused of serious crime being released with ankle bracelets, some of whom break more laws, even commit murder. One "progressive" official said she doesn't even read all the charges. She just wants to remake the system, or words to that effect.

   Belz claims "the problem isn't with the jury selection procedure, It's with the people who get selected." 

   Judges. Witnesses. Lawyers. People who have been shaped over the decades.  

   Belz says, "You can't tell people that there is no such thing as truth and that nothing is absolute - and expect them to take truth seriously."

           Jimmy