I think we would need to develop a system that restricts the potential jurors to those who are qualified without restricting it so much that they are drawn from a small set of gatekeepers who can easily be corrupted.
Perhaps both lawyers could be allowed to negotiate requirements for the jurors (e.g. they must have a technical background, at least half must have college degrees, etc.). Or perhaps each lawyer negotiates requirements for some of the jurors with the judge.
Another approach would be to make changes to the legal system. For example:
Make it illegal for a lawyer to present evidence that they know to be scientifically or technologically unsound or to present a witness that they know to be unqualified.
Make it perjury for an expert witness to knowingly present scientifically unsound statements or to comment on something that they are unqualified for.
Make unsound science valid grounds for overturning or appealing a case.
Require statements to be backed by data that meets statistical requirements.
I'm not a lawyer and I'm sure these wouldn't be a perfect solution, but perhaps they would help.
District courts already exercise extensive control over what and how scientific evidence gets presented to a jury. Before trial, experts submit reports detailing their opinion (these can be hundreds of pages with supporting appendices). There is then a period of expert discovery, where the experts are deposed for a day or more each and grilled by the other side’s lawyer. Then there are “Daubert motions,” where each side asks the judge to exclude parts of the other expert’s testimony. Excluding testimony based on unsound and unreliable methods is the key focus of the Daubert motions. This is a process that takes months, and involves hundreds of pages of additional briefing, plus usually oral argument to the judge. And those decisions are then reviewable on appeal. Appellate courts routinely throw out jury verdicts because expert testimony was based on unreliable methods. By the time the case gets to the jury, the expert evidence has been vetted and the jury is presented with a very controlled picture of each side’s argument.
The issue is, experts genuinely don’t agree on much of anything. Is salt bad for your blood pressure? Many medical doctors would say yes, many would say no. There is almost no subject where you can’t find highly qualified experts that have conflicting opinions.
I'm curious why you think it allows for more corruption than the US system. Something I find compelling about the German system is that the primary point is not to decide guilt or innocence of the accused, but to determine the truth. (See https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol34/iss2/5/).
> But in the US, plea bargaining essentially is our criminal justice system.
Plea bargaining in the US is, in my opinion, a corrupt practice.
> I'm curious why you think it allows for more corruption than the US system.
I didn't make that claim in the big picture, I was talking specifically about the the role of jurors in terms of evaluating the credibility of expert testimony.
My concern with the idea of "professional jurors" is that they represent an easy target for corruption in the form of coercion, bribery, etc. How can you ensure that a professional juror is actually impartial and fair? If jurors are always coming from the same pool of people, won't they develop relationships with prosecutors and the like that may influence their impartiality?
The only counter suggestion I've ever seen are expert panels that remove decisions from The People and move it up the ladder of control and power, where the elites and bureaucrats can ideally be more easily paid off by companies like Bayer to rule in their favor. The elites love choke points that amplify their control over society, always under the guise that they know best (inevitably resulting in vast, systemic corruption that is nearly impossible to stop).
Panels and government oversight boards are just another easy target for lobbying (in all of its various flavors). As though the US system doesn't have enough of those corruption points in place now. There are an enormous number of jury cases in the US every year however, and bribery is rare.
If you replace traditional juries with expert panels, it's guaranteed that the system will be designed - by those that benefit from all other forms of lobbying - to have holes in it that allow forms of legal lobbying and influence, whether direct or indirect.
I'll take juries of The People in all regards, and without exception, over the extraordinarily dangerous, anti-democratic risks involved in shifting the system toward elitist expert panels. We already have enough of that shit dominating our country as it is. I choose the less perfect system - if that's indeed the choice - that retains power in the people broadly, keeping a critically important piece of the justice system mass-involved - something we're all part of.
Not necessarily disagreeing with your points but who exactly are “the elites”? Elite thinkers? Elite earners? Elite influencers? Elite who, and elite by what criteria?
I disagree with the outcome of this case and leaving scientific decisions in the hands of people who may not have the cogitative skills to make the best assessments is an issue and would like see a solution. That being said, the moral hazards you point out do appear to be a much larger potential issue and I agree the risks of "expert panels" probably aren't worth it. We need some sort of redress to non biased citizens.
Perhaps civil trials with monetary rewards are a different matter than criminal trials though, not sure. Anyway, your point is good.
What's the alternative, though?