Welcome. I'm The Skeptical Juror.

I come by that name honestly. I’ve served jury duty more than most. I’ve been summoned more than a dozen times. I can’t recall how many more precisely, just that it's more than a dozen. I’ve been called enough times that I’ve lost track.

I’ve been called into the jury box eight times for voir dire. I’ve actually served on a jury four times, all criminal cases, all felonies. I was an alternate during my first trial, a drive-by shooting. I was the foreperson in the next three: murder, spousal battery, and child molestation. The last trial was a life-changing event. It led me to begin writing as this persona.

The dictionary defines “skeptical” as “not easily convinced, having doubts or reservations.” A Skeptical Juror, then, truly and without reservation grants each defendant the presumption of innocence. A Skeptical Juror insists the State carry the burden of proof, and will not vote guilty unless and until the State proves each and every element beyond a reasonable doubt. A Skeptical Juror is focused on the evidence and is impervious to the drama.

Most jurors believe they adhere to these precepts. Experience cautions me otherwise.

But I am not merely A Skeptical Juror. I am The Skeptical Juror, as if there is but one. To be sure, there are many other jurors out there who apply a high level of skepticism when adjudicating a case. I fear they are too few, but the existence of just one other is sufficient to prove I am not The One and Only Skeptical Juror. I use the title simply because it is more marketable than A Skeptical Juror, and because it’s cooler.

I wrote for more than a decade using Google’s Blogger tool at https://skepticaljuror.com. That site remains for your perusal.

My total page views exceeded one million. After a 100,000 words worth of posts and a year-long, behind-the-scene, failed effort to prevent the wrongful execution of Preston Hughes III, I stopped writing, then restarted, then stopped again after the wrongful execution of Larry Swearingen for the murder of Melissa Trotter. In one post, I declared Larry Swearingen to be “The Most Innocent Man on Death Row.”

On 1 January 2022, I relaunched my Skeptical Juror work on the Substack platform before you. I did so in part due to a shocking but credible email that I received entitled, “I know who killed Melissa Trotter.”

I wrote of that shocking but credible tip in my launch story for this Substack newsletter. I will be posting a combination of the best from my Skeptical Juror blog plus the shiny new for my Substack readers.

You can, at any time, see all of my Substack posts at https://skepticaljuror.substack.com/archive

Thank you for your time and consideration.