The Miami Review
July 24, 1990
By Deborah Pent Low
-Juror tells lawyer-what he thought about presentation; he suggests wooden hangers
WHEN a jury leaves a courtroom, whether for a trial recess or to begin deliberations. the lawyers, courthouse personnel and other trial observers often speculate about what the jurors must be thinking.
Now a letter appended to as opinion out of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta gives us a clue. And it aught to make trial lawyers look in the mirror twice each morning before heading to court.
An alternate juror who listened to testimony in the Miami case USA v. Cuthel provided government prosecutor Myles Malman with a number of interesting observations in an April 1988 letter sent shortly after the defendants were found guilty of various narcotics offenses.
"Congratulations [sic] on winning most of the cases against the Fink Organization," begins the letter from an unidentified juror that was attached by the appellate court to the decision affirming the Cuthel convictions.
"First of all, we saw through most of the Defense attorneys & how they tried to pull our attention away from the facts by putting up smoke-screens or attacking you personally."
The letter rambles on to observe that the jurors concluded Malman was "sharp as a tack," and to ask why the government didn't throw the book at one man who was charged with only two counts.
Most importantly, however, this juror wanted the prosecutor to know the jury was most impressed "by the suits & ties you wore & those Argyle socks too."
"When things became dull or we were trying to keep from falling asleep after sitting for so long, we noticed things like that.
"... As the days went by & you continued to wear sharp suits & bright ties, we starting [sic] remarking about it."
The juror though did have one quibble:
"There was only one negative remark & it was that you should use wooden hangers to hang your slacks over so as to prevent the crease across your knee."
Mid-Trial Offer of Probation for Client
