Here's a rare variation on a very common story. A holdout juror in Florida felt so bad about giving up and joining a guilty verdict that she paid the defendant's fine:
Patricia Klugherz reluctantly voted with other jurors to convict Joyce Buffaloe of making a false 911 call during a late night traffic stop, then she stuck around the courtroom for the sentencing.
The more Klugherz thought about it, the more she felt the police officers were out of line when responding to a black woman who questioned their behavior. And she concluded that Buffaloe called 911 to get help, not to annoy those officers -- as other jurors concluded.
So, the jury's 73-year-old forewoman did something almost unheard of. She gave $220 to the woman she just convicted, enough to cover the fine and court costs.
"She seemed very sincere, she was shaking her head, 'I'm so sorry this happened to you,' " Buffaloe said. "This is the craziest thing."
The gesture left Buffaloe confused but grateful, and Klugherz feeling a little better about a case in which she feels she caved in to other jurors and convicted a woman who did not deserve it.
"It made me feel very guilty that I did it," said Klugherz. "I will always feel like I made a mistake."
The story, in southwest Florida's Herald Tribune, continues here. Ms. Buffaloe called 911 after officers who pulled her over "cursed at her and pointed their stun gun at her, all while her 8-year-old son was in the back seat." The officers pulled her from her car and took her to jail; the story doesn't say what happened to the little boy.
How to help a holdout
Holdout jurors give up and give in all the time, as we've discussed. They sometimes try to make amends by contacting the judge or one of the lawyers, but you don't often -- maybe don't ever -- see them taking the defendant's punishment. But then few criminal trials end in fines, and even the most repentent juror can't go to prison in the defendant's place.
Advice on this topic is the same as ever: if you think you may need holdout jurors, teach them how to hold out -- during the trial, not after. Let them know how important it is, and how hard it is, to stick patiently to their decisions when other jurors, and the promise of going home, press in. Help them rehearse in their minds how they'll do it, if they need to.
(Photo by Jean-Etienne Poirrier at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jepoirrier/2043734850/; license details there.)
