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MSBA Celebrates Maryland
Jury On Law Day
Lawyers, students, teachers examine today's jury
By Janet Stidman Eveleth
The Honorable Patricia Jessamy, Baltimore
City State's Attorney (left) and WJZ-TV reporter Suzanne Collins
MSBA President-Elect Edward J. Gilliss (center),
flanked by MSBA Public Awareness Committee Co-Chairs Robert Anbinder (left)
and Adam Sean Cohen |
On May 17, MSBA celebrated Law
Day with a special lawyer/teacher/student conference on Maryland’s Jury.
This public service program, sponsored by MSBA’s Public Awareness Committee
in conjunction with the Citizenship Law-Related Education Program in Maryland
Schools (CLREP), attracted over 130 high school students, teachers and lawyers
from across the state. Entitled “We the Jury: Maryland Citizens in Action,” the
day-long event, held at the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center in Towson, featured
a keynote address from the Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge of the Court
of Appeals of Maryland, an educational videotape, an interactive mock trial
and a number of prominent speakers discussing different aspects of the state’s
jury system.
Edward J. Gilliss, MSBA’s President-Elect, offered
greetings on behalf of MSBA and spoke of MSBA’s commitment to public
service. “Thousands of volunteer lawyers go out into the community and
visit schools across the state to talk about the law,” Gilliss noted.
He congratulated CLREP on its 30th anniversary and praised the volunteer attorneys
who have touched the lives of over 2 million young people through law-related
programs in the last three decades.
The audience was then treated to Your Turn to Serve,
an educational and entertaining videotape which offered a historical perspective
of jury service. It traced the evolution of the jury as it followed the spirit
of independence in this country, developing the characteristics that define
America’s jury today. The students and teachers also gained an insight
into what it is really like to serve on a jury from actual jurors.
Chief Judge Bell addressed the importance of jury service
and its role as a cornerstone of our democracy. “Our Rule of Law is our
society’s foundation, and with it we are a great democracy, Bell observed. “However,
the Rule of Law requires the participation of our citizens. We need citizens
to serve on juries; juries judge the facts and ensure that the law is applied
fairly and that justice is done. Juries give ordinary people a central role
in our government; they put a human face on the law.” The Chief Judge
encouraged all of the students, once they are of age, to appear when summoned
for jury duty and to serve, if selected, on a jury.
Next, the audience was divided into seven juries. They watched
a videotape of an actual trial involving a high school senior charged with
possession of drugs; retired Judge Edward Angelletti then offered jury instructions
to the students. The “jurors” deliberated, completed verdict sheets
and the jury foremen shared the gist of their deliberation. Three returned
a verdict of not guilty and four were hung juries.
The conference also featured special speakers at afternoon
breakout sessions with such timely topics as “Juries: Myths, Media &
Misconceptions”, with Suzanne Collins, WJZ-TV reporter; “Juries
and the Death Penalty: The Ultimate Responsibility”, with Gary Christopher,
Chief Assistant Federal Public Defender; “Juror & Witness Intimidation:
The Impact on Jurors”, with the Honorable Patricia Jessamy, Baltimore
City State’s Attorney; and “When Witnesses Take the 5th or Defendants
Remain Silent: Implication for Jury Members”, with Adam Sean Cohen, The
Cohen Law Firm. These generated in-depth dialogues that continued into the
final panel discussion, during which the above speakers were flooded with questions.
Public Awareness Co-Chairs Adam Sean Cohen and Robert Anbinder
were pleased with the overall event. “We had a rare and exciting opportunity
to speak to the future jurors of our State about what they can expect as participants
in the Judicial Process,” declares Cohen. “The dialogue was very
informative for both the presenters and audience.”
“It is exciting that we were able to get high schoolers,
who are focused on so many other things, to see the importance and consequences
of jury service,” adds Anbinder. “Hopefully, they now place a higher
value on freedom and civil liberty, having seen how members of their own community
can strip them of both after a trial.”
“The mock jury exercise particularly struck home to
the students when they realized that serving on a jury and reaching consensus
with other members can be exhausting and divisive,” Anbinder continues. “It
was a needed injection of the real world into the lives of these cloistered
students.”
“Many if not all of the students’ preconceived
notions of ‘the jury’ were cleared up,” adds Cohen. “The
one concept that each and every student took away from the program was that
the American jury system is the best system of justice in the world and that
the system is only as strong as its participants. They are all eager and excited
to participate when called to duty. In a nutshell, we have planted a powerful
seed and will soon see the fruits.”
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