Yarborough v. Gentry, 540 U.S. 1, 4 (2003) (per curiam)

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  Next

4

YARBOROUGH v. GENTRY

Per Curiam

that doesn't have anything to do with what happened on April 30th, 1994.

" 'He doesn't know whether or not he's been convicted. Didn't understand the term conviction. That is not inconsistent with this whole thing of being spoken and doing all this other crime stuff as opposed to going to school. I don't know. I can't judge the man. The reason that they bring 12 jurors from all different walks of life, let them sit here and listen to people testify, and the reason that the court will give you instructions with regard to not having your life experience, leaving it at the door, is because you can't just assume that because a guy has done a bunch of bad things that he's now done this thing.

" 'I don't know if thievery and stabbing your girlfriend are all in the same pot. I don't know if just because of the fact that you stole some things in the past that means you must have stabbed your girlfriend. That sounds like a jump to me, but that's just [me]. I'm not one of the 12 over there.

" 'All I ask you to do is to look at the evidence and listen to everything you've heard and then make a decision. Good decision or bad decision, it's still a decision. I would like all 12 of you to agree; but if you don't, I can't do anything about that either.

" 'You heard everything just like all of us have heard it. I don't know who's lying. I don't know if anybody is lying. And for someone to stand here and tell you that they think someone is lying and that they know that lying goes on, ladies and gentlemen, if that person was on the witness stand I'd be objecting that they don't have foundation because they weren't there. And that's true. The defense attorney and the prosecutor, no different than 12 of you.

" 'So I'd ask you to listen to what you've heard when you go back, ask you to take some time to think about

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007