The Jury Is Out

Literally, for Wiles Farm defendants. All three charged individuals, owner Ken Wiles, his son Joe Wiles, and employee Dusty Stroud, waived their right to a jury trial and instead will appear before Judge Stuart Miller only in Wayne County Municipal Court on Tuesday, June 19, 9:00 AM.

Better off with 3–on-1 rather than 3–on-12? Couldn’t seat an acceptable jury? Pressed for time, or just going with the flow? Sometime after 9:00 AM on June 19—exactly how much time after we cannot speculate—we will see how precisely balanced those iconic scales really are and whether or not the origin of Lady Justice’s blindfold is indeed founded on the impartial treatment of parties or just the cartoonish cynicism of a 400–year-old pissed-off German artist.

Update 06-20: The verdict(s) are in. Ken Wiles, charged with two counts of animal cruelty: not guilty on both counts. Joe Wiles, charged with six counts of animal cruelty: guilty on one count, not guilty on four counts, one count dismissed. Dusty Stroud, charged with two counts of animal cruelty: not guilty on one count, one count dismissed. More as we get it.

Judge Stuart Miller may be in, but we're still out on the origins of dear Lady Justice's blindfold. One point, though, of which we are most assuredly and unwaveringly certain: there were fine legal minds in the courtroom -- yes, at least one, plus three-quarters of another. Mammalian anatomy and physiology -- specifically and particularly, swine anatomy and physiology, or even basic, undergraduate general physics -- not so much.