It wasn't us. Today, the right to a fair trial was safeguarded by another group responsible for protecting the constitutional rights of the people of Maine: the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
In a 5-2 ruling, the Law Court vacated a criminal conviction for aggravated drunk driving because the Court was convinced that the jury returned a not guilty verdict, was dismissed, and then was reconvened to delivery a guilty verdict.
The decision in most appeals is the same: affirmed. Very rarely does the Law Court, or any appeals court, disturb the ruling of the trial court. It is worth noting, then, when an appeals court does take such an action, especially on a difficult, politically-charged issue. It is easy to talk about the right to a fair trial in the abstract, but being committed to the reality of fair criminal process often means accepting painful results. We are lucky to have a system of justice where a result such as this is possible.