Judge and jury What happened in Deborah Miller's criminal case demonstrates perfectly why our justice system entrusts regular folks with determining crucial questions of innocence and guilt. To put it bluntly, 12 regular jurors sometimes make a heck of a lot more sense than one judge. Case in point: Montgomery Circuit Judge Johnny Hardwick. Hardwick on Tuesday dropped charges against Miller, a lobbyist accused of stealing $10,000 from one of her clients. His reason? Hardwick said he believed a hung jury was likely, because most of the jurors were women.