- How to explain reasonable doubt to a jury reddit trial#
- How to explain reasonable doubt to a jury reddit free#
Wilson, who conducted a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, wrote in a July 2003 New York Times editorial that he found no evidence Iraq sought to buy uranium from the African nation, as the administration claimed. Prosecutors contend Libby disclosed Plame's covert profession to reporters as part of a plan to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who alleged that the Bush administration twisted some intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. He resigned in 2005 after the grand jury indicted him.
How to explain reasonable doubt to a jury reddit free#
Walton pointed out jurors are free to consider any portion they feel could help their assessment.Ī five-count indictment against Cheney's aide alleges perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI and a grand jury investigating how Valerie Plame was outed as a CIA operative.
"It could show jurors are trying to convince others you don't need this level of evidence to find reasonable doubt," former federal prosecutor Alex Rene said.ĬNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, after reading the notes the jury sent to Walton, said, "There is nothing that says the government has to show that it is 'not humanly possible' for someone not to recall an event."Īnother question slowing down the jury's effort to reach a verdict centered on its search for testimony to support one of the charges of false statements against Libby. The question suggests some members of the jury are looking for a complete absence of doubt, while others believe that the standard of proof expected from prosecutors falls short of that. " 'Humanly possible' is just a nebulous term," Walton said, "and I just don't know exactly what it means. "Asking them to define 'humanly possible' is going to embroil them in a question not asked in the case," said defense attorney William Jeffress.īut Walton tried to craft a question he hopes will clarify. His attorneys tried to show his overwhelming White House workload, including urgent national security matters, could have caused discrepancies in what he told investigators.Īfter hearing 14 days of testimony, jurors entered their ninth day of deliberations Monday.Īt a hearing Monday on the jury's question, prosecutors, Walton and defense counsel had difficulty finding common ground on how the judge should respond to the question. Libby contends he suffers from a poor memory. The jurors asked whether it would have to be "not humanly possible for someone not to recall an event" for them to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. District Court Judge Reggie Walton a note Friday indicating a struggle to understand the term "reasonable doubt."
How to explain reasonable doubt to a jury reddit trial#
Lewis "Scooter" Libby perjury trial to clarify a question they posed in a note to the bench as they deliberate the fate of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. WASHINGTON (CNN) - A judge Monday asked jurors in the I.
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