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  • in policy
  • 2 min read

Trial by Jury: Keep the Jury, Eliminate the Trial

Yesterday, I made a simple argument for handing the jurors the facts that are not in dispute at the beginning of the trial. I want to extend that argument a bit further to a more expansive idea that I have. Rather than just giving the undisputed facts to the jurors, why not boil the entire trial down to its text and give it to the jury as a kind of case study. All of the questions asked in the trial are already in multiple depositions. If a witness gives an answer that is different from the deposition, the deposition is brought out and read. Why not deliver all the evidence to the jury in writing? I can read faster than I can listen, and importantly, I can alter my pace as needed.

  • in policy
  • 5 min read

Trial by Jury: Just Give Us the Facts

I just finished a seven-day trial as a juror on a civil suit. This was my first time called and serving on a jury. It was an enlightening experience. There are a number of observations that I have. I may make an omnibus post to share all the little things I found surprising, from the high quality of the jury video to the great facial expressions of the judge. For now, I am going to focus on one major observation: most of the court time was spent extracting from the witnesses facts that were not in dispute, and if these facts had been directly conveyed to us, it would have been far more efficient without sacrificing any fairness in the proceedings. I am going to change a few details of the case so that this article will not draw any unrequested attention to the participants in this case.

  • in culture
  • 2 min read

One™ Bad Naming Fad

When a trendy corporate fad is embraced by the dinosaur in the market, that usually marks the peak and indicates the coming decline in the fad. I for one hope that the recent release of the Xbox One digital dinosaur Microsoft marks the decline of one bad naming fad—naming your latest product "One". It seems like everyone has a "<MyBrand> One" out. In addition to Xbox One, I have run across Pandora One, Ubuntu One, Dell's XPS One, HTC One, and PLOS ONE.