TORONTO – Immediately after revealing their verdict on the case of James Forcillo’s murder of Sammy Yatim, the 11-person jury was charged with and found guilty of attempted justice.
“There is strong evidence to believe that, during the course of five days, the Forcillo jury deliberately, intentionally and recklessly, and with extreme disregard for fairness, attempted to achieve justice,” explained crown prosecutor Milan Rupic.
A jury’s decision is never an easy one and although deliberations are kept confidential, one can only speculate about what happened over those few days. It is likely that the jury saw the opportunity to achieve a just result in their crosshairs but decided instead to merely injure Forcillo with an attempted murder conviction. Unfortunately, the “why” of the matter may never be known.
“I’m not sure I quite understand the verdict,” said Tony Montenegro, a member of the public who sat in the gallery during many of the days of the trial. “So, they don’t think he tried to murder Yatim when he fired the first shots but then suddenly changed his mind after he was down and then tried to kill him? It’s clear that the jury was trying, but didn’t carry out the full force of jurisprudence.”
Experts report that the jury likely failed to practice de-escalation techniques in order to assure that justice was served. Jury training, like mandatory viewings of Twelve Angry Men and the use of manslaughter convictions to “taze” suspected murderers, appear to have not been followed here. Many lawyers speaking anonymously suggested that that the jury recklessly misused the Defence’s arguments, generalizations and biases and failed to heed signals from Forcillo that he was guilty.
Forcillo says he is lucky to have gotten away with such a minor wound given the jury’s clear intention to try to impose justice upon him.
“Fortunately, they were blinded by my lawyer’s flashy language and courtroom antics and their aim was off the mark,” Forcillo enthused. “Now the public can see the jury system for what it truly is and I’m glad that they’ll get what they deserve for this shameful misuse of their authority.”
The punishment of a jury found guilty of this offence in Canada is five more years of jury duty.
