so what do you think of the current jury system
oh i think basically it works okay the uh
i do think that we need to have
unanimous verdicts although that can certainly cause problems sometimes
yeah definite definitely you want the benefit of the doubt and as much on the defendant's side as possible
yeah absolutely
make sure you're not getting into a police state or anything close to it
right absolutely
the uh i think that
when they have unanimous verdicts in some civil trials i think that's okay but
uh
i'm not sure if they said we're supposed to just talk about civil or criminal or both
uh it just said trial by jury it didn't say either
okay well for civil
i think a i think in a lot of cases in civil trials you can have a i think ten to two
is acceptable
yeah i i think there's a lot more shades of gray that are possible and acceptable in civil trials than in criminal trials
criminal trials are more of do the facts say that this happened or didn't it happened
where in the civil trial there's a more wider range of you know whether this contract was satisfied fully satisfied partly satisfied
or so on
right yeah there's a lot more
variation there it's not just did they do it or didn't they do it it's
so i don't quite like the idea of the in civil trials in sounds like in a lot places the jury comes up with what the award amount should be
i think you really want
another party you know the the jury just say this is the things we think money should be awarded for
and then either the judge or a three judge tribunal coming up with what the award amount should be
i agree and i agree that the jury in those kinds of civil trials can even apportion the liability if it's a liability type of thing
yeah
that it's forty percent this guy sixty the other or whatever but uh in civil trials juries have come up with some really ridiculous awards
right that get overturned or changed on the first appeal
right
where as if they came up with a more reasonable one the first time through maybe you wouldn't need to tie up the system with all these appeals
right i agree and i think that uh certainly were i in a paralyzed or something i'd want eighty three zillion dollars
but uh i think rationally
eighty three million dollars or something is probably acceptive because i think what i'd really want would be someone to you know the money to take care of
me
for the rest of my life
yeah well the the the
wish that i had proper care and medical treatment but giving me an extra
million and millions of dollars that i couldn't do a damn thing with anyway
right
and uh wouldn't really help anybody except the lawyers who'd get their cut of it their half
and i also think yeah
on the same lines the uh punitive damage awards should really go more towards let's say the government and supporting the court system
there's no reason an individual person should get the punitive damages i think that's more of
right
you know it it's something that doesn't really
you know the person is already being compensated for his losses and injuries
yeah
the punitive damages are more of a slap on the wrist of the person doing or the corporation doing the injury
and having that go to the person who does the suing doesn't quite make sense
right also punitive damages in general i mean if
there's
if i'm hurt in a car accident and there's punitive damages of five million dollars against you i'd probably never collect it
right
and if it's because your car was bad and it's five million dollars against General Motors that's probably small change to them
and it's not really punitive against either one because General Motors five million is nothing and to you since it's uncollectable it doesn't make much difference anyway
no i think five million dollars would definitely cut into the executive bonuses of GM
uh i don't know it's a good question i guess it's off the topic we're supposed to be discussing but
yes yes
the uh
and the other thing i guess that was in there was whether the
you know the other thing i guess on the topic that i'd bring up is um
the insanity defensives i don't never quite liked that temporary insanity
well i like what some states have including Colorado
and Idaho the wording is something like on the insanity it's
instead of not guilty because you're insane
so they send you to the mental hospital it's guilty
and insane something like
right
