I know this is not going to be popular, but it's my opinion and I'm ok with it.
I keep hearing about the four holdouts. In actuality, there were no holdouts. the jurors were given a task to do and 3 possible choices to mark on the card. They all put in their time, came to their conclusions, 8 for death, 4 for a life sentence. Juror instructions does not say you have to give into the majority, in fact, it says quite the opposite, not to be bullied into changing your mind if you truly believe you are making the right descision. All 12 made their "right decision" as based on how they viewd the mitigating factors in comparison to the aggravating facors of the case.
They are told they can each accept or deny any of the testimony they have heard. It is something they and only they can choose to believe or disbelieve. There civic duty was to use their life experiences, their common sense, and their sense of what was true and what was not. They are told not to let emotions play a part in their decisions. Their job was to vote Life or Death. All 12 did so, there were NO holdouts, they all voted, they all debated and in the end, they didn't all agree. Simple as that!
I respect the jury for taking on this tough task, and just because they didn't all see things as I did, and all 12 vote for death, I do not hold that against them. To call the four holdouts imho is just wrong. It could just as easily be said that there were 8 holdouts who wouldn't vote for life in prison. CMja is where she needs to be right now, and her next move is to Perryville whether she likes it or not. And we can thank all 12 jurors for that.
As I said in a previous post, I will bet dimes to donuts that the Alexander family is not bashing the jurors tonight. Disappointed sure, but I can bet they aren't calling them idiots and some of the other lame terms I've seen used here tonight. They are too classy and have too much respect for our legal system to bash 12 people for doing their civic duty for 5 months.
Aim your hatred if necessary where it belongs, on CMja, not these 12, or 4 of the 12 that did their civic job as they saw fit.