48 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
48 lines
2.2 KiB
Plaintext
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Local jury banned by judge after ruling man innocent
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By Catherine Trevison
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Of the Tribune staff
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La Crosse County Circuit Judge Peter Pappas has barred 12
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jurors from ever serving on a jury again because they found a man
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innocent.
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And the move has drawn the ire of a defense lawyer, who says
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his client can't get a fair trial.
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Pappas would not comment Wednesday on the accusation made by
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John Wabaunsee, a lawyer who works for the state public
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defender's office in La Crosse.
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Wabaunsee has asked Judge Michael Mulroy to reinstate the
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eligibility of jurors who served at a disorderly conduct trial
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Nov. 29, and to draw a new jury pool.
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The circuit courts select jurors from a pool of 200 people
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at any one time.
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Wabaunsee said his client, a man accused of child sexual
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assault, can't get a fair trial because the exclusion "has
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contaminated the entire array of people chosen," Wabaunsee said.
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Their names are now in a file with those of people who are
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permanently excused for things such as mental infirmity,
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commission of a felony, or the inability to read and write
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English.
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Mulroy denied Wabaunsee's request because he said Wabaunsee
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should have brought the issue before Pappas.
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Members of the all-female jury contacted Wednesday said they
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hadn't known why they were excused. They said they did remember
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that the judge seemed angry with them after the verdict.
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"The look the judge gave us was incredible," said juror
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Kimberly S. DeCora. "If looks could kill we all would have been
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dead."
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DeCora said the defendant was acquitted because the
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prosecution's witnesses contradicted each other when testifying.
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"They didn't have their stories straight," she said.
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Juror Betty L. Woodford said she felt the jury made the
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right decision.
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"It wasn't a decision made to get away (from the
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courthouse)," she said. "We felt he was innocent of what he had
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been accused of."
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Woodford said she had been looking forward to jury duty in
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the future, and felt she and the other jurors were treated
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unjustly.
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"We were on trial and we didn't even get a chance to plead
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innocent," she said.
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