re: The Auburn 4- Why did Goodwin get 15 years?

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And for the record, after being on jury duty a couple times, my biggest fear in this world is trial by a jury of my "peers".

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Oh, I agree with you 100%. Juries scare the hell out of me.

I was on a criminal jury... a rape trial. The DA did his best, but he never presented a single piece of evidence that said that the guy accused of the rape actually raped the woman. The trial basically came down to she said-he said.

Got into the jury room and all but two of us on first vote voted "guilty". I think one reason why was that the accused was an Asian guy, i.e. he was "different" ergo he was GUILTY. But I actually took "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" seriously and I did not intend to vote to send a man in prison for something he either didn't do or MIGHT NOT have done.

Might he have committed the crime? Sure... always that possibility. But there sure as hell was a serious lack of actual PROOF that he did. The jury ended up voting not guilty. The accusers family stood up and screamed at the jury after the verdict. Later I got nice letters from both the judge and the DA apologizing for being subject to that abuse and thanking me for my jury service (I assume everyone on the jury got one).

Being a responsible citizen on a jury isn't easy, especially on juries considering crimes of violence. My experience on a jury convinced me that there are lots and lot of innocent people rotting in prison these days. And that ultimately changed my thinking on capital punishment (I'm now against it).