Letters to the Editor: Vang trial raises questions of bias

Vang trial raises questions of bias STATE JOURNAL 9/14/05 It is laughable, but predictable, that whenever the charge of liberal bias is raised -- this time in relation to choosing a jury from Dane County for the Chai Soua Vang murder trial of six deer hunters near Rice Lake -- reporters usually interview one moderate Republican and several liberals who never see or can acknowledge their own bias. The comments of former prosecutor Chris Van Wagner and Michele Lavigne, former public defender and now UW Law professor, illustrate the point perfectly. "Bias, what bias?" My questions are: With 10 Dane County women on the jury, how many of them are hunters or have ever hunted or even held a firearm? Why is lefty Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager prosecuting this case? Were her questions to the potential jury members about gun ownership to eliminate anyone who actually knows something about firearms or to assure herself that only those who shared her beliefs about guns would be on the jury? Move the jury selection to liberal Dane County, choose nearly an all-women jury and then make sure they hate or have no knowledge of hunting or guns. Bias, what bias? -- William Richardson, Madison