Henry Raymond
Fairfax News => Current News & Events => Topic started by: Henry on May 22, 2009, 02:41:49 PM
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The trial for the sexual assault case of a Colchester orthopedic surgeon has ended in a hung jury. The decision was announced around 2:20pm Friday afternoon.
It was day four of jury deliberations.
Dr. Joseph Abate was facing three counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of sexual assault for performing vaginal exams on patients complaining of knee and hip pain.
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I strongly suspected this trial would end up in a hung jury. I have been on a number of juries over the years and I know that lawyers try to screen the jurors to make sure they are not biased, however the prospective jurors sometimes lie. There are times that you can tell when you start to deliberate that some jurors have already made up their mind, even though they are not supposed to.
Near the end of their deliberations I believe this jury got it down to 10 not guilty and 2 guilty, but that was the closest they came. I believe one juror said that one of those for the guilty verdict was determined from the start and was not about to change their mind, thus the hung jury. Then you have the other side of the coin, "Beyond Reasonable Doubt." Some jurors cannot get past that.
It takes a lot of patience to be on a jury - I pride myself with usually getting along with people, but shut up in a room with 11 other people can get to you sometimes.