Mike Fox
Mike Fox
Imagine at 22, you were driving recklessly with a group of friends when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit you head-on, killing several of your passengers. If you think the grief from feeling responsible for the death of your friends would be unfathomable, imagine the state charged you with causing your friends’ deaths, confining you to an approximately 70-square-foot cage for over three decades.
In 2022, Floridian Devin Perkins was driving 100 mph in a posted 35 mph zone when a drunk driver going the wrong way slammed into him, killing three of his passengers before fleeing the scene. Prosecutors charged Perkins with three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of reckless driving resulting in serious bodily injury. Perkins rejected a plea offer recommending 10 to 20 years in prison, opting to exercise his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.
At his September trial, jurors convicted Perkins after deliberating for just 20 minutes. Awaiting sentencing, Perkins faces a possible life sentence and a mandatory minimum of over three decades behind bars. Perkins made a terrible mistake—one he should certainly be held accountable for. But the penalty is excessive, particularly in light of the reality that several of the victim’s family members have even said that he should never have been charged.
The Framers entrusted jurors to wrestle with the toughest of questions to resolve disputes between citizens and their government. It is no accident that the jury trial is the constitutionally prescribed mechanism by which we adjudicate criminal cases. The Sixth Amendment reads, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” After much deliberation, the Framers chose their words carefully. » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/juries-bulwark-against-oppression