Nevada chief justice who served as jury foreman wouldn't have put himself on the jury
Nevada Chief Justice Mark Gibbons says serving as jury foreman last week in a Carson City prosecution was a great experience, though he wouldn’t have put anyone with legal training on the jury if he had been a lawyer in the case.
Gibbons and other jurors convicted David Paul Lane on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon for brandishing a gun while at an Olive Garden in Carson City in July 2013, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Nevada Appeal report . Lane was acquitted on two other assault charges, while jurors deadlocked on another assault charge.
Gibbons says he was shocked when he was selected as a juror last Monday. People with legal training “are totally qualified” to serve on juries, he told the Review-Journal, “but I think it is better to have 12 people who don’t have any previous bias in those areas.”
Gibbons says he voted last on every count so he wouldn’t influence other jurors. On one of the counts, jurors persuaded him to acquit after he was initially the only one to support conviction, according to the Nevada Appeal.
Gibbons added that he told the judge he agreed with all of his rulings on objections during the trial.
