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#1 Sudoku mistrial

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:17 pm
by FickityTwists
Link
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian drugs trial lasting more than three months and costing taxpayers over A$1 million ($947,000) has been aborted after a number of jurors were found to have spent up to half the time playing Sudoku puzzles.


Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra cancelled the trial of two men on drugs conspiracy charges after the jury foreperson admitted that four to five jurors had been playing the addictive number sequence game, local media reported. The judge was alerted after some of the jurors were observed writing their notes vertically, rather than horizontally. The game involves completing a grid of numbers in the correct sequence.

One juror said the game helped them to pay more attention by keeping their mind busy.

"Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time," the juror was quoted saying by the Australian Associated Press.

A new trial is expected to begin in a few weeks once a new jury has been called.

(Reporting by James Thornhill; Editing by Alex Richardson)
And we wonder why our law system is corrupt. I wonder how many others do this shit?

#2

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:19 pm
by rhoenix
To be fair, that's Australia, not the US - but still.

Sudoku? Really?

#3

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:20 pm
by frigidmagi
Smooth, maybe we should ratchet up the standards for jury duty selection.

#4

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:20 pm
by FickityTwists
rhoenix wrote:To be fair, that's Australia, not the US - but still.

Sudoku? Really?
For the USA, it would be the NY times Crossword instead.

#5

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:21 pm
by rhoenix
FickityTwists wrote:For the USA, it would be the NY times Crossword instead.
Or smuggled Game Boys.

#6

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:22 pm
by FickityTwists
rhoenix wrote:
FickityTwists wrote:For the USA, it would be the NY times Crossword instead.
Or smuggled Game Boys.
Get with the time it would be an Iphone or Nintendo DS.

Yet, on a serious note. Those would be noticable. So, not likely. The NY Times maybe.

It just goes to show how some that when you make people do things they dont want to, the only person who looses are those who could actually be innocent. And innocent bystanders of sex offenders that are freed because of this kind of conduct.

#7

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:23 pm
by rhoenix
FickityTwists wrote:Get with the time it would be an Iphone or Nintendo DS.
Or just texting on cell phones, really.

#8

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:26 pm
by FickityTwists
rhoenix wrote:
FickityTwists wrote:Get with the time it would be an Iphone or Nintendo DS.
Or just texting on cell phones, really.
According to a friend who just got done with Jury Duty, all cellphones and outside ways of communication are taken away.

So I am curious to know how these people in Australia got sudoku.

#9

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:27 pm
by rhoenix
FickityTwists wrote:According to a friend who just got done with Jury Duty, all cellphones and outside ways of communication are taken away.

So I am curious to know how these people in Australia got sudoku.
Aha.

In that case, someone probably brought in a Sudoku book and made copies.

#10

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:29 pm
by Derek Thunder
Actually, I think for the US it would be the national pasttime of shooting up a rusted Chevrolet truck with shotguns.

#11

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:01 pm
by Mayabird
frigidmagi wrote:Smooth, maybe we should ratchet up the standards for jury duty selection.
I thought the idea was that the lawyers wanted the dumbest possible people to sit on juries so they could dazzle them with shiny objects and fancy words. The one time I got selected for jury duty, our whole group got thrown out. They tried to say that the defendants wouldn't get a fair trial. It seemed to be code for "the random process picked too many educated people." A doctor, a med tech, a couple nurses, an engineer, a retired environmental scientist, me, another guy who was finishing his degree (in computer science), and a few others. (Granted, there were some idiots in there too, like this one lady, when asked what kind of newspapers or magazines she read, replied, "I don't read the paper. I read the Bible," but not as many as you'd expect from a random selection.)

Professional juries look like a better idea more and more.

#12

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:24 pm
by frigidmagi
The reason they do that is Lawyers being distantly related to humans share many of our characteristics. In this case laziness. Yes they could select a thoughtful intelligent jury... But then they would have to actually work and present an argument. Dumb juries mean less work.