Sorry, Kayla, It's Wasn't Your Fault

In an afternoon Tweet, the Maven chastised WOWO's Kayla Blakeslee for reporting that "Joseph Kast  had been found guilty of murder by a unanimous vote." As anyone with a 4th grade education knows, in criminal proceedings in the State of Indiana, as well as other jurisdictions, a verdict to convict has to be unanimous. There are no "split decisions". What I did not realize at the time was that Kayla's only error was reading shoddy, ineffective and patently poor copy written by WOWO's "news partner", Indiana's Newscenter, also known to some as 21Alive. My apologies to Kayla. 

By reading the story, it's clear that the INC news writer has no grasp of the basics of the court system, and reporting on a unanimous vote for conviction is not only redundant, it's foolish. If this were a school board or City Council meeting, the number of votes to win or lose would be appropriate. 

Considering the state of the broadcast industry in general, and our little 'burg in particular, we should probably consider ourselves fortunate to have a couple of stations still attempting to provide some level of news coverage, sub par as it is. 

For our friends at INC, the State of Indiana's website www.in.gov has some great resources for journalists, and TV news writers, as well: 

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/jury/index.html#_Toc243295746

Indiana Rules of Court

Jury Rules

Including Amendments Received Through January 1, 2011

RULE 16. NUMBER OF JURORS

(a)    In all criminal cases, if the defendant is charged with: murder, a Class A, B, or C felony, including any enhancement(s), the jury shall consist of twelve (12) persons, unless the parties and the court agree to a lesser number of jurors. If the defendant is charged with any other crime, the jury shall consist of six (6) persons. The court shall determine the number of alternate jurors to be seated. The verdict shall be unanimous. (emphasis added)

(b)    In all civil cases, the jury shall consist of six (6) persons, unless the parties agree to a lesser number of jurors before the jury is selected. The verdict shall be unanimous, unless the parties stipulate before the verdict is announced that a verdict or finding of a stated majority of the jurors shall be taken as the verdict or finding of the jury. The number of alternate jurors shall be governed by Trial Rule 47(B).