The Long and Winded Road - Orlando Magazine

May 18, 2011 12:19 AM
Casey Anthony Trial
The Long and Winded Road

Excerpt:

The fair and impartial jury, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 11 of the Florida Constitution, is crucial to the administration of justice under our legal system. The fundamental necessity of a fair and impartial jury was heralded by early Court decisions as judges initiated an effort to secure and safeguard the integrity of the jury trial. Jurors should, if possible, be not only impartial, but beyond even the suspicion of partiality. - O’Connor v. State, 9 Fla. 215,222 (Fla. 1860)

I remember my late grandfather. He was always on time. He was such a stickler for time, he usually arrived about a half-hour earlier than we expected him, but we grew accustomed to it. Growing up, he used to take us to Ocean Grove, NJ, a beach town where driving on the streets was banned on Sunday. He was, after all, a man of the cloth, and Ocean Grove was founded as a religious resort.
"COME ON, COME ON, COME ON! LET'S GO, LET'S GO, LET'S GO!" I can still hear him say that. In this regard, Judge Perry closely resembles my Grandfather. "You'd better get going or I'll leave without you."
How many times has the judge told the defense that the show will go on whether they're ready or not? Of course, he wouldn't really do such a thing any more than my grandfather would have left us behind.

http://www.orlandomagazine.com/Blogs/Casey-Anthony-Trial/May-2011/The-Long-and-Winded-Road/