Christmas is no time for justice, says prosecutor

One might have thought that the prosecutor Susan Reed had been moved by seasonal goodwill when she decided to put on hold all big trials until after the Christmas holiday.

Not at all. The district attorney for Bexar County, Texas, simply did not want to allow the festive seasonal spirit to influence jury members and make them more sympathetic towards defendants.

"Jurors are very sympathetic at Christmas time, and that's just human nature," she said. "We have very serious cases to present and we don't want to risk that. I know that past trials [at Christmas] have been more difficult."

The former judge makes no apologies for issuing the halt, which has become something of an annual tradition. And she denies suggestions that she is a meanie or a Scrooge. "It's my job to ensure that justice is done," she said. "I like Christmas but if we are dealing with rapists and murderers, I want to see them convicted."

Indeed, the mission statement of the district attorney's office maintains that it is "committed to aggressively seeking justice and the protection of the family, person and property of all the citizens of our community".

At Christmas, however, Mrs Reed believes people do not want to be "thinking about murder and mayhem" and would rather be spending time at home with their families. But she promises that after Christmas she will be back with a vengeance and expecting the jurors to make difficult – and non-sympathetic – decisions.

The best time of year to bring cases to trial, she believes, is around the US income tax deadline of 15 April. "There's no doubt about it," she explained. "Jurors are good and angry."