The Third Jury

In the Cherokee Nation a man was shot to death. According to two boys who saw it, the accused went up the fence with his pistol, hallooed at the victim, struck him in the mouth with his fist while trying to fire, then shot him in the side and in the back. The accused was tried for murder three times; two earlier convictions had been set aside on appeal. At the third trial the judge, among many instructions, urged jurors in the minority to reconsider their views in light of the majority's. The defence challenged eighteen instructions, arguing in particular that telling holdout jurors to rethink their positions pressured the jury into a verdict.