Quote:
Originally Posted by skydiver
I think you could argue a tainted jury pool. Possibly resulting in a new trial? ShysterJon?
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It's unclear to me from the OP's post whether he believed the defendant was guilty but the prostitution law should not be followed (which would be an example of jury nullification) or whether he thought the defendant was not guilty because the state hadn't proved its case (because the phrase 'half and half' could mean many things besides an act of prostitution and thus he had a reasonable doubt).
My opinion is that what happened was NOT jury nullification (where a jury refuses to follow what it considers to be a bad law and acquits, although it believed the defendant was guilty based on the evidence). Maybe it was an example of one juror (the OP) wanting to nullify the law, but using sophistry to convince his fellow jurors to acquit.
I don't think there was misconduct on anyone's part. And even if there was, it would be extremely difficult for the DA to prove. Generally, the rules only allow probing a jury's deliberations based on an allegation of an improper OUTSIDE influence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWanderer
Had they convicted her, I assume the judge would have imposed sentence which would have been probation and a fine.
Which also would have been the same sentence if she had pleaded out.
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Not necessarily. If the defendant didn't have significant prior criminal history, the DA probably would have offered deferred adjudication community supervision ('probation' is called 'community supervision' in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure). A person who successfully completes a supervised deferred probation won't have a conviction on their record and can eventually get the case records sealed.
A person who successfully completes an UNsupervised deferred probation won't have a conviction on their record and can eventually get the case records expunged (i.e., DESTROYED).
However, a defendant can't get a deferred probation after being convicted at trial -- they can only get so-called 'straight' probation (or they could get jail time). A person who gets straight probation has an unsealable, unexpungable conviction for the rest of their life. That's the risk of going to trial rather than pleading out.
