6,835,000 pageviews


Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Susan Cole: Prospective Juror to Perjury Defendant

     More than 90 percent of the criminal cases in American are not tried before a jury. Bargained guilty pleas have essentially replaced the cumbersome and costly trial process. Still, tens of millions of Americans receive jury duty summonses every year. (Our criminal justice system would collapse if just 20 percent of defendants demanded a jury trial. The entire system is set up for guilty pleas based on negotiated sentencing deals. Legislators often make maximum sentences for minor crimes high to give prosecutors more bargaining power.)

     In high-profile criminal trials the outcome of the case is pretty much determined by which side does the best job of jury selection. O. J. Simpson got off because his attorneys won the jury selection battle. To a certain degree trials are over before the first witness takes the stand. Wealthy defendants often hire juror picking consultants who help design a defense-friendly jury. These psychological profilers match jurors to defendants by analyzing such factors as body language, hair styles, clothing, gender, marital status, age, race, education and occupation. In high-profile cases the jury selection process, called voir dire, can go on for months.

     Juries, in general, do not represent a cross-section of American society. Entire categories of people never see the jury box. For various reasons, juries rarely include professors, police officers, physicians, nurses, small business owners, employees of small companies, college students, young mothers and lawyers. Most juries are made up of retirees, government workers, employees of large corporations and people who are unemployed.

     There are many ways for a prospective juror to get out of jury duty. People can be excused for poor health, a criminal record, an upcoming wedding, family demands, mental illness, various economic hardships and the stated inability to render an unbiased decision. In Michigan, lawmakers recently approved a bill that exempted breast-feeding mothers from jury duty. While prospective jurors are not above telling lies to get out of sitting on a jury, prosecutions for this form of lying under oath are extremely rare. That makes the following case so unusual.

Susan Cole

     In June 2011, Susan Cole, a 57-year-old beautician and Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswoman, received a summons for jury duty. She arrived at the court house in Denver with her hair in curlers and dressed according to her idea of how mentally ill people present themselves. She wore too much lipstick, reindeer socks and mismatched sneakers. She had put on a tee-shirt that read: "Ask Me About My Bestseller." (In 2007 under the pen name Char Cole, Susan Cole had self-published a relationship, self-help book/memoir called "Seven Institutions With El-Way Secrets.")

     When Judge Anne Mansfield asked Cole if she had a history of mental illness the prospective juror said, "Yeah, I have some mental issues. I broke out of domestic violence in the military [after her divorce she joined the Army] and have a lot of repercussions. I get very confused in the morning when I try to get ready." (Like forgetting to take out her curlers.) The prospective juror said that as a result of the domestic violence she suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Cole also told the judge she was homeless and living on the street. Judge Mansfield asked if anyone objected to the dismissal of this woman. No one did and Susan Cole went home.

     On October 17, 2011, on Denver's "Dave Logan Show," a radio call-in program, callers were telling stories about how they had avoided jury duty. Susan Cole joined in the fun by calling the show and telling how she had recently gotten out of jury duty by impersonating a mentally ill person. Obviously aware that she was admitting to a crime, Cole called in under her pen name, Char.

     In justifying her jury avoiding ploy, Cole told the radio audience that she was simply too busy for jury duty. Rather than being ashamed of having lied under oath to avoid a basic civic responsibility, Cole seemed quite proud of herself: "I put black eyebrows on. I put red lipstick on. I left my hair in my curlers, and I put on a tee-shirt that said, 'Ask Me About My Bestseller.' For about two weeks after, when my roommate and I would think about it, or I would tell my clients about it, we would cry we would laugh so hard."

     One of the "Dave Logan Show" listeners was Anne Mansfield, the judge Susan Cole had lied to. She didn't find Cole's story so funny. The judge knew exactly who this caller was and notified the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor initiated a criminal investigation.

     Detectives looking into the case found no mention of spousal abuse or PTSD in Cole's divorce records. Moreover, her military file contained no documentation supporting such a diagnosis. On March 22, 2012, police arrested Cole on charges of first-degree perjury and attempt to influence a public servant (the judge). If convicted she faced a maximum sentence of 6 years in prison, on each count.

     Before being hauled off to jail, Susan Cole told detectives that the military had lost her medical records. And the only person who had diagnosed her with PTSD, a Jefferson County court counselor, had since died. Cole said that in her book she writes of being imprisoned five days in a military mental institution. She also claimed that on the night before her jury duty appearance she had been traumatized by news that her cousin had been killed in a motorcycle accident. As it turned out her cousin hadn't been involved in a crash.

     In November 2012 Susan Cole pleaded guilty to the felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. According to the plea deal the judge deferred her punishment. (A deferred judgment is a no-contest type of plea. Once the guilty party meets court-ordered requirements there is no formal conviction on record.) Cole also pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury. For this misdemeanor the judge sentenced her to two years probation and forty hours of community service.

     Had Cole gone to trial for lying under oath her fate would have been in the hands of people who had not lied to get off the jury. Now, with a criminal record involving dishonesty, this woman was no longer fit for jury duty.

2 comments:

  1. That is so crazy bout that people will go extreme ways get out of it by saying off the wall things like saying they don't believe in the system or are from a different place and makes it hard for people with real problems not to be on a jury harder to get out because so many people use all the excuses in the world to get out have u heard of anymore cases like this for this form of perjiry

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice blog.......Perjury is considered a serious offence as it can be used to usurp the power of the courts, resulting in miscarriages of justice.Sex Offence Lawyers Melbourne

    ReplyDelete