Quote:
Originally Posted by spdrun
All I can say is that if the father took his rage and grief out on the cop at some time in the future, and I ended up on the jury, I'd probably not vote to convict.
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If this happened, and the jury thereupon deadlocked, and the Judge fruitlessly ordered further deliberations, that came to nothing, a mistrial would be declared and the Jury excused. But first, the jury would be "polled" to see the number of jurors voting each way. And the Jury foreperson would have to assure the court all efforts to further deliberate would in his mind, be utterly fruitless.
Minutes later in court, with only the defendant, the defendant's lawyer and the prosecutor present, the Judge would order the matter continued for further proceedings -another date in court some weeks ahead as time permitted, "to set a new trial and or further settlement conference".
The prosecutor then goes back to his office and meets with the Supervising staff Prosecutor and they decide if it is worth the time and trial to go for a second time or just give up and dismiss the case, or try to take a plea of guilty to some lesser included and reasonably related offense, such as maybe simple assault as a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of a year in the county Jail; and maybe 3 years on Probation;
Or start with harder bargaining, like say. 3-4 years in State Prison, BUT "Execution of (state prison) sentence suspended - commonly called ESS) WITH 3 years probation, 6-12 months in Jail with appropriate credit for time served; warrantless search condition, appropriate "stay away" orders and the rest of the usual bells and whistles, but for this one, the defendant had better report to Adult Probation regularly (maybe it's an ISU = an intensive supervision unit) and if he busts probation even ONCE, he gets a hearing, nt for the originally charged offense, but for whatever the Prosecutor charged as a violation of probation - and if found guilty after a brief hearing, --- (the DA's LOVE these hearings because the standard of proving criminal probation violation culpability is MUCH lower - just 51 to 49% - than in a regular trial, which has "beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty" about 99% or more - much tougher than a probation revocation hearing)...
If the Judge revokes probation (NO juries for these, either) he then LIFTS the suspended sentence.
Back in Jail, the defendant is told by the Sheriff's deputy to "Roll 'em Up", and it's this way to "begin serving the balance of the state Prison sentence, heretofore imposed".
YMMV in other states and jurisdictions, but that's a quick, general look at how it works in San Francisco Criminal felony court, or did till I retired from working there back in 2003.