University Daily Kansan, March 25, 1985
CAMPUS AND AREA
Page 7
Lawmakers describe voting on liquor issue
By MICHAEL TOTTY Staff Reporter
Two key players in last week's Kansas House vote in favor of liquor by the drink explained their actions at a downtown breakfast meeting Saturday between area lawmakers and residents.
State Rep. Robin Leach, D-Linwood, who cast the deciding vote in Thursday's House decision that she allow allies to choose whose candidate she would be voted by the drink, departed from his scheduled topic to explain his vote.
See related story D. 9
And State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton,
D-Lawrence, was called on to defend
her "no" vote in the House balloting
on the resolution.
About 100 people attended the Eggs and Issues breakfast at the Eldridge House, 7th and Massachusetts streets, to hear a panel of seven legislators describe the mid-session progress of several issues.
STATE SENS. WINT Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, and Jim Allen, R-Ottawa; State Reps. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, John Solbach, D-Lawrence, and David Miller, R-Eudora, joined Charlton and Leach on the panel.
The liquor-by-the-drink issue, although only a small part of the agenda, was on the minds of many at the meeting. Leach delayed his discussion of public education to allow him, he voted for the liquor resolution.
Leach said he had not intended to support the liquor resolution. But he changed his vote when it appeared that the proposed amendment to the liquor bill would win support from the necessary two-thirds of House members.
"This vote was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done," he said.
LEACH ALSO SAID he opposed a provision in a Senate drinking-age
bill that would allow Sunday beer sales. The Senate bill will raise the legal drinking age for 3.2 percent beer to 21.
The liquor resolution and the drinking age bill are expected to be discussed this week by a joint House and Senate conference committee.
During the House debate, Charlton ignored requests to change her vote. She said the food provision didn't belong in the state's constitution.
Charlton said House members had been assured that they would receive a clean resolution, one without the food provision, from the conference committee. The House would not pass the resolution without that provision.
IN OTHER ISSUES discussed by the panel, Branson explained the progress of the budgets for the University of Kansas and the other Board of Regents schools.
Branson praised the Senate for adding funds for a proposed computer engineering degree program at KU. The committee added $268,000 money to the budget to the University's fiscal year 1986 budget to begin the program.
Branson also explained proposed changes in the state's classified employee pay plan. Classified employees include hourly workers at KU, such as secretaries and maintenance personnel.
Carlin has proposed higher wage increases for those at the bottom of the pay scale, which includes half of the classified workers, Branson said.
But members of KU's Classified Senate have criticized the governor's plan for not adequately rewarding workers with more seniority. That criticism has prompted the Legislature to propose a proposal with one that addresses the inequalities of the original plan, Branson said.
KU employs about 1,800 classified employees, Branson said.
Futons
--comprehensive health associates
- outpatient abortion services
- alternative counseling
- gynecology
Overland Park, KS/913-345-1400
Put your best face forward with retouched resume & job application photos by...
MASTERMINDING CENTER
842-8822
Applecroft Apartments
Studios, 1-bdrm, 2-bdrm
1741 W. 19th 843-8220
THE CASTLE TEA ROOM
DOUBLE FEATURE
RVCR & MOVIES
RVCR Rental
Curtis Machina
M/S 30 - 48 am / 9 pm
S/1 - 5 pm
phone: 843-1151
Juries react to trial timing, prof says
By BETH REITER Staff Reporter
Jurors' decisions can depend on the way a lawyer speaks, the length and timing of opening statements and eyewitness accounts, a psychology professor said last week.
Lawrence  Wrightman, the professor of is studying aspects of the judicial process that affect civil and criminal cases.
"WE FOUND THAT it did have an effect," Miene said. "The earlier the defense gave his opening statement, the better it was for his or her case."
One aspect he is analyzing are opening statements by the defense and the prosecution, Wrightsman said, Pete Miene, Prairie Village senior, is studying the timing of the opening statements of the defense under the direction of Wrightsman.
Miene said the defense could make its opening statement after the prosecution's statement or evidence against the nation's evidence had been presented.
The opening statement provides a basis for the jury to interpret the evidence and information that follows by stating general information about the case and how the evidence will be presented, Miene said.
Wrightsman said that even though jurors were instructed to base their decisions only on evidence, the opening statements sometimes overpowered the information and evidence that followed.
One way to counter the influence of opening statements is to have psychologists testify as expert witnesses and instruct the jury that opening statements should not be used as evidence, Wrightsman said.
EXPERIMENTS USING students in Psychology 104. General Psychology, provide much of the information for the research, Wrightman said. The students watch a videotape of a reconstructed trial, see a trial presented by law students or actors or read a transcript of a trial. The students act as jurors in the experiments.
Students fulfill class requirements by participating in the experiments.
Although students who participate in the experiments know they aren't really convicting someone, they are serious jurors, Wrightsman said. Students' verdicts generally are similar to the verdicts reached by non-student participants, he said.
WRIGHTSMAN, WHO has been studying juries for nine years, said he had received $17,000 from three institutions since he started his research.
The results of Wrightsmans research will be published in psychological journals such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, he said. Wrightsman also might write a book about juries that would include information from psychologists.
strong enough to convict him beyond a shadow of a doubt," Wrightsman said.
Wrightsman said lawyers usually learned about the results of lurv research in workshops.
The judge instructs the jury before or after the evidence is presented, he said.
Another aspect of the trial that affects jurors is the timing of the judge's instructions, Wrightsman said.
"What we find is that when it comes at the end, it doesn't have any effect," Wrightman said. His husbands have made up their minds."
"The judge will tell the jury that it's not whether the defendant is guilty, but whether the evidence is
Eyewitnesses also affect a juror's decision, Wrightsman said. Jurors tend to believe the testimony of an eyewitness, he said, and often ignore the effects stress. If a witness sees the suspect and the effects that lighting 'the scene can have on the witness' testimony.
The way a jury deliberates also can affect its decision. Judges don't specify when the jury should take its first vote, so jurors may vote before they have discussed case adequately. Wrightsman said.
EXCEPTIONAL MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES.
Jurors sometimes get frustrated when the trial is delayed, such as when the judge and the attorneys have a conference, Wrightsman said. This frustration can cause jurors to make a hasty decision.
For exceptional College Juniors and Seniors
CURRENT
CURRENT
OPPORTUNITIES:
- NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
- NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
* BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
- AVIATION • LAW
- AVIATION • LAW
MEDICINE • INTELIGENCE
- MEDICINE * INTELLIGENCE
* OWN ENGINEERING
MEDICINE - INTELUGEENCE
* CIVIL ENGINEERING
- SHIPBOARD OPERATIONS
Sign up for an interview in the Career Placement Office.
Interviews will be held in Engineering Placement, Learned Hall March 26 and 27, April 16 and 17
For appointment call collect 816-374-7362
All You Can Eat
Sunday Buffet $5.25
House of Hupei 2007 W.16
2907 W. 6th
...
To Your Good Health
at
The Student Health Service
- Film on Breast Self-Examination. (American Cancer Society)
presents
Watkins Hospital presents
—Wed., March 27, 7 p.m. —
"A ten minute habit which can save your life"
- "How to examine your breasts."
If you're concerned about breast cancer, learn breast self-examination.
For More Info. call Lynn Heller, R.N. Dep. Health Education at 843-4455 ext.31.
Need a RIDE or RIDER?
- Discussion on Breast Cancer.
Watkins Memorial Hospital Student Health Service presents a seminar on breast self-examination
Check the Kansas Classifieds this week!
SUA FORUMS COMMITTEE FORMING NOW
Help Schedule
Help Schedule and Organize Speaker Appearances on Campurol
Visit the SUA Office in the Kansas Union to set up an interview and fill out a brief application
By APRIL 1, 1985.
THE
FORTUNE 500's MOST ADMIRED INSURANCE COMPANY
NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL LIFE
But
It's Not A Career For Everybody
If you're the type of person who would like to have your own business yet still have the many benefits offered by a 15 billion dollar corporation, it's a career you should take a serious look at.
INTERVIEWS WILL BE HELD APRIL 9th IN ROOM 125 SUMMERFIELD HALL
SIGN UP FROM MARCH 25 THRU MARCH 27
"KU on Wheels"
ANY MAJOR OR DEGREE WELCOME
0. 0
Position Opening
Applications are now being accepted for the position of Transportation Coordinator
Applications and a Job Description are available at the Student Senate Office, 105 B, Kansas Union Application Deadline: 5 p.m., March 26.
(paid for by the Student Activity Fee)
1