Byron White Quotes

Now it is clear, that if the government can exclude, on account either of their opinions or feelings, any persons thus drawn by lot, the trial is no longer a trial by 'the country,' but only by a portion of the country.

The exclusion of jurors opposed to the death penalty allows the state a special advantage in those prosecutions where the charges are most serious and the possible punishment the most severe.

It's extremely damaging to a fair trial to have people reaching judgment about the case in the newspapers and on the radio before the facts are heard in a case.

I got the chance to argue my first case in Supreme Court, a criminal case arising in Alabama that involved the right of a defendant to counsel at a critical stage in a capital case before a trial.

Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races.

A jury is composed of twelve men of average ignorance.

Usually when attorneys are assembling a jury, they're just looking for sheep that are easily impressed.

The trial by jury is a trial by 'the country,' in contradistinction to a trial by the government. The jurors are drawn by lot from the mass of the people, for the very purpose of having all classes of minds and feelings, that prevail among the people at large, represented in the jury.

Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

[The defendant] has an absolute, unqualified right to compel the State to investigate its own case, find its own witnesses, prove its own facts, and convince the jury through its own resources. Throughout the process, the defendant has a fundamental right to remain silent, in effect challenging the State at every point to “Prove it!”

Trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of every British subject in these colonies

The Sixth Amendment secures to persons charged with crime the right to be tried by an impartial jury reflecting a fair cross-section of the community.

The absolute rights of individuals may be resolved into the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right to enjoy and acquire property

The respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law.

The purpose of bail is to insure the defendant's appearance and submission to the judgment of the court. It is never denied for the purpose of punishment.

More rogues than honest men find shelter under habeas corpus.

There are very few countries in the world where we have a jury system as we all know.

A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

For anyone whomsoever to be put to death without a trial and unconvicted ... is forbidden

The ancient mode of trial by jury ... ought to remain sacred and inviolable.

Well, summary executions would be very effective. But we have impediments—they're called the Constitution and due process. And we have a responsibility to uphold the Constitution.

Trial by jury slows the wheels of justice.

To those who submit to rightful law and authority, all gentleness and forbearance; but to the petulant secessionist … death is a mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better.

By the time our Constitution was written, jury trials in criminal cases had been in existence in England for several centuries and carried impressive credentials traced by many back to Magna Carta.

No Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned, or be deprived of his Free-hold or liberty… but by the lawful judgment of his peers, and by the Laws of this province.