It's a ridiculous notion, really. The idea that 12 adults selected because a judge deemed them

relatively honest and lawyers thought them sufficiently malleable, that they should decide

someone's fate with a show of hands? Bias and prejudice don't disappear when deliberations start. Of course they don't.

Logic and reason don't always reign supreme. In truth, many verdicts are little more than

good faith guesses based on the evidence jurors are allowed to see. But for the most part, it's a system that works,

if not always consistently.

And that, of course, is the rub.

I had butterflies in my stomach the first day I ever tried a case

35 years ago, and I had butterfliesball eyes on my case on this date.

It took more than 10 hours for the jury to decide the fates of Chris Latham and Wendy Moore.

We couldn't understand why some of didn't feel the same way as the others felt.

In this episode, you'll hear from some of the jurors who rendered those verdicts.

Sounds like that might have been a debate.

Am I right about that?

Yes.

You'll hear a remarkable moment of jailhouse redemption.

Nancy Leitham doesn't owe me forgiveness at all whatsoever.

It's very emotional it is.

And you may be surprised to learn what's become of some of the people we've met over the course of this podcast.

The only person I have to make happy is me.

And man, is that liberating?

I'm Keith Morrison, and this is the sixth and final episode of Murder and Magnolias, a podcast from Dateline. It was one of those February mornings in the south that seems to offer a hint of spring.

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