ES - Jury Duty/Jury Story

Sluggy slugmusk at home.com
Wed Mar 8 15:14:11 PST 2000


Ok, the list admin will prolly suggest we get back on topic soon,
but....

Richard Threlkeld wrote:

> I have had the privilege of sending 3 meth manufacturers and
> dealers to jail for 3 consecutive sentences of 70 years each,

(snip)

Several years ago, I sat on a jury that worked with little more than
testimony, some by the mildly retarded 14 year old victim, in which we
convicted her stepfather of raping her on Thanksgiving Day. Amongst the
lovely circumstances were that her infirm grandfather was the only
witness to coroborate her testimony and the girl's own mother testified
against her. The jury deliberated for two and a half days, wrestling
with the concept of "reasonable doubt". Everyone had the gut feeling
that the guy was guilty, but a jury is charged to decide based on the
evidence presented and the evidence was so sketchy and tenuous.
Eventually, we returned a guilty verdict. 

Once free of our obligation to the court, the D.A.'s lawyers could fill
us in on the details. The guy and his brother had gone to trial for gang
raping her before (when she was only 10) and got away with it somehow.
Her mother had testified against her that time, too. We all sounded a
sigh of collective relief.

A few weeks later, I saw the bum walking along the freeway near where I
work. I called the DA's office and inquired. Turns out that one of the
jurors was on probation, so all the pain and angst were for naught. He
got off on a mistrial.

Sluggy!
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