Being human, jurors do not leave their biases at the door, nor do judge nor anyone else. The key is for them to overcome their biases as best they can.

Congratulations to Franklin Taylor for winning a retrial today in his voluntary manslaughter case, based on the trial judge’s refusal to strike a potential juror who was unable to sufficiently demonstrate that he would do anything other than believe police more than other witnesses merely because they are police. Taylor v. Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (Oct. 23, 2012).

The Court of Appeals found reasonable doubt about whether the potential juror could fulfill his oath to impartially assess each witness, and confirmed that any reasonable doubt about a juror’s qualifications must be resolved in favor of the criminal defendant.