Jackson Jambalaya

Jury told the court there was a 9 to 3 verdict, but when Judge Coleman polled them, it was 8 to 4. Sounds like someone got intimidated when speaking out in the open about their vote...didn't want Dupree or Ware to know that they had sided against them.

I say the Judge either calls for a special election or if there is another trial, move it up to North Mississippi. To many people know too many people on such a hot trial. After this fiasco, no wonder people don't want to serve on jury!

DuPree got the verdict he wanted. Canton South is born!

Everybody in politics know how Dupree operates--He does not deserve to serve the people--keep digging they will find more!!!

Pete Perry should have been tough!!

Pete Perry is a backwards, tobacco chewing, political hack who will lie, beg, borrow and cheat for a dollar. Apparently, the jurors saw through him. Expert my dog is a better one and I am being kind.

Expert my dog is a better one and I am being kind.

Did that feel good? Do you feel superior now?

I don't think the judge can order a special election under these circumstances.

If there is a new trial, they need a new judge. Judge Coleman has had a long and honorable career, but its time for him to, uh, go home.

Not only do they need a retrial but they also need a change of venue, such as Columbus, Tupelo or Southaven.

"The power doesn't lie with those who cast the votes, it lies with those who count the votes."

The vote was 9-3, with Ware winning. When polled in the open courtroom, a juror who was afraid to publicly vote for Ware changed her vote, so that it became 8-4 (anything less than 9 votes is a hung jury, and the results of the election stand). Numerous instances of attempted intimidation by Dupree supporters were observed, both inside and outside the courtroom. A note sent out by the jury indicated they were afraid to vote publicly, indicating the were being influenced by the intimidation.

A party that will intimidate jurors in open court will have no problem intimidating voters at the poll.

Bring in the Feds.

July 30, 10:28, I have made it through countless blog posts, here and lots of other places, without ever using profanity. Your remark about Pete has gotten me closer to breaking that rule than any before it. Pete Perry has forgotten more than you'll ever know about election law, and for you to personally attack him behind the cowardly anonymous identity is absolute chicken...dung. Lie, beg, borrow and cheat? Put up or shut up, rectum. Bill Billingsley

The jury was composed of 7 Caucasians and 5 African Americans. However, that was only after Judge Coleman, relying on fifty years of federal precedent, returned three African Americans to the jury pool even though they had been “struck” with peremptory challenges by David Ware’s attorneys. Judge Coleman also returned one Caucasian to the jury panel after Johnny Dupree’s attorneys had “struck” that juror. Thus, the jury pool went from 9 Caucasians and 3 African Americans to 7 and 5. Since all the white jurors ended up voting to name David Ware mayor, that suggests that Judge Coleman’s disallowing three of Ware’s peremptory challenges is what made the difference in this case.

In theory, a judge’s right to disallow peremptory challenges is to prevent parties from striking someone based primarily on race. The practical effect is that whenever a Caucasian is in litigation with an African American, there is a built-in bias against using peremptory strikes against anyone who is African American. Assuming that African Americans are at least as racially biased as Caucasians, all other things being equal, there will always be an advantage to African American litigants. They will represent a disproportionately large number of jurors selected from the jury pool in such cases. This litigation presents a textbook example of why many people believe that the 50-year-old mechanism allowing a judge to invalidate peremptory challenges to prevent racial bias actually perpetuates such bias.

To understand peremptory challenges better, go to: http://courts.ms.gov/rules/msrulesofcourt/urccc.pdf and read Rule 4.05 on page 30.

It looks like to me that all of the blacks voted for Dupree except one. And all of the whites votes for Ware. Pretty much sums up Mississippi politics. Blacks vote democrat and whites vote republican(national elections). Black Mississippians think trayvon should not have been questioned. White Mississippians think Zimmerman had the right to go after him. only in Mississippi you see it this polarized. We are in trouble because no one on either side is willing to think and see the truth. You cant reason with no one in this state if it involves the two races. How did it get this bad? Its embarrassing especially because the nation laughs at us. Just think, we still have some white Mississippians who think that the blacks were wrong in the 60's.

12:10; It's really not as complicated as you suggest. What it boils down to is blacks don't trust white folks or their lawyers and whites don't trust black elected officials.

The presence of Jimmy Dukes in a courtroom(asleep or awake) is enough to intimidate any juror. Dukes was the prosecutor in the Vernon Dahmer trial and his FIB brother contacts kept those Texas Rangers from hauling him away from that truckstop on HiWay 49 back to Texas to face charges in another matter.

I knew the trial would end this way when the judge allowed a woman who goes to church with the DuPrees and "fixes" Mrs DuPrees hair to sit on the jury

I suspect that there's still a Cold Case file in Texas on that Buried [Hot] Dozier.

Dozier

Btw, that's french for bulldozer.

Surprised to not see Robert McDuff sitting in the dock with Dukes and Dupree, since Hattiesburg is McDuff's hometown.

Another juror's note to the judge has appeared, confirming that one particular juror feared retaliation, asking that the jury polling not be made public, otherwise that juror would join the then three dissenters.