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Back to Home > Star Telegram > Columnists Friday, Jan 09, 2004 > Bob Ray Sanders Posted on Wed, Jan. 07, 2004 Juries understand 'innocent until proven guilty'
Bob Ray Sanders - In My Opinion

Four recent highly publicized Texas trials -- one ending in acquittal and three in mistrials -- may be a sign that jurors are paying attention more, taking their jobs seriously and refusing to be ramrodded by prosecutors who tend to have the presumption of guilt on their side. This is a good sign, even if it means that occasionally a person who actually committed a Bob Ray Sanders crime will go free or eventually end up with a much lighter sentence than government attorneys had wished. Star-Telegram

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Let's quickly review those criminal cases in which I'm willing to bet most people inside and outside the courthouses were expecting guilty verdicts for the much-maligned defendants. Robert Durst. This New York millionaire who once disguised himself as a mute woman to escape capture admitted during his Galveston trial that he had chopped up the body of his elderly neighbor, Morris Black, but claimed that Black's death was an accident that occurred as the two struggled over a gun. The sensational trial lasted for two months, and jurors spent 26 hours over five days before voting 12-0 for acquittal. Shocking verdict? You bet. Perhaps the only people more surprised than Durst on hearing the "not guilty" verdict were the prosecuting attorneys, but more about that later. Daniel Shockley Miller. He was accused of kidnapping and killing 27-year-old Gina Dykman of Richland Hills in 1996, and his capital-murder trial was thought by some observers to be a slam-dunk for the prosecution. Tarrant County prosecutors called to the stand Miller's father,

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Tarrant County prosecutors called to the stand Miller's father, mother, sister and brother, all of whom testified that Miller told them that he had killed a woman. In addition, two former roommates said Miller admitted to them that he had killed the woman, and another person said she had been an eyewitness to the shooting. After three days of deliberations, and with the majority of the panel questioning the credibility of prosecution witnesses, jurors were deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquittal. The judge declared a mistrial. Richard Simkanin. The 59-year-old Bedford businessman, a staunch anti-income tax crusader, had pleaded guilty in a plea bargain with federal prosecutors to failing to withhold and pay taxes on his employees' wages. When a judge threw out the plea agreement on a technicality, Simkanin decided that he wanted to go to trial rather than bargain with prosecutors again. He was prosecuted on a 27-count indictment in November, but jurors could not reach a verdict in the case. It, too, ended in a mistrial. The case is being retried this week in a federal court in Fort Worth. Frank Allen Montgomery Jr. This capital-murder case grabbed headlines because the victim was a 16-month-old girl and the accused was a Texas Christian University football player at the time. Prosecutors maintained that in 2002, Montgomery burned the daughter of his girlfriend and the next day struck her with or against an object, causing her death. The defense team argued that Montgomery was in class when the child was fatally injured by her mother, Roxane Lawrie. With the jury failing to reach a unanimous decision -- divided 8-4 for acquittal -- a mistrial was declared. These four trials, occurring within days of one another, draw attention to the true role of jurors and, of course, to prosecutors. The accused in this country are supposed to be presumed innocent, with the state or federal government having the burden of proof. That proof is supposed to be "beyond a reasonable doubt." Unfortunately, it usually seems the other way around. The defendant is most often presumed guilty, and if he or she is sitting at the defense table in a courtroom, the jury usually gives the benefit of the doubt to the prosecution. In each of the above-mentioned cases, most people I know had already convicted the defendants, and I've heard some ask, "How could any juror think they were innocent?" From what I could tell, in these cases the juries weren't necessarily saying that the defendants were innocent but that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The jurors rightly held the government to a higher standard. In the Durst case, for example, I heard a national commentator say this weekend that the jurors obviously "bought" the defense case that the shooting was accidental. That is not what jurors said. They said the state did not prove that Durst had intentionally killed Black. People get upset about mistrials and acquittals when they think a person is guilty. But each time either happens, the system is working. It is time that prosecutors be put on notice that they have to do more than simply accuse. They must put on a convincing case based on evidence rather than the presumption of guilt. Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (817) 390-7775 bobray@star-telegram.com email this | print this | license this | reprint this

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