My initial thoughts as I prepare to head off to my first day of jury duty are: Its early, I'm damn tired, oh my god I AM one of those people who are too stupid to get out of jury duty. I'll let you know how it goes.
DAY 1 IS COMPLETE. I SERVED ON A JURY!
The case was semi-interesting. At least it wasn't yet another drunk driving thing. A gentleman who listed himself as a transient was accused of stealing a 1989 Camry. We had some expert witness testimony, a little CSI type evidence, and even a bit of humor. I'll go into more detail later, but for now I'll tell you the results. We found him guilty of Unauthorized Use, and Possession of a Stolen Vehicle. We found him not guilty of Theft. There was an attempt (by three women as per usual) to make me foreman of the jury. Since I have held that position many times in the past I know what a pain in the ass it can be. I managed to get another man elected and he promptly made me his "vice-foreman". Great, now I'm Dick Cheney. More on this wonderful jury later.
THE SYSTEM WORKS - WELL IT DID IN THIS CASE ANYWAY
I was just explaining in the comments section of this post how I truly believe in the American trial by jury system. It is far from perfect. There are too many "activist" judges on the bench, although unlike our conservative citizens, I believe they are activists for the agenda of the political right. Many prosecutors are over zealous and care more about conviction rates than garnering the truth in a case. The police forces in our communities are filled with power mad, hateful, Neanderthals (not EVERY police officer, but a lot of them). It is the trial by jury, I feel, that is the one saving grace of our system of jurisprudence. If the decision as to guilt had been left up to a judge and prosecutor in the case I served on, the young man would likely have been found guilty on all counts and given the harshest punishment allowed.
Let me tell you a little about the people who made up the jury I was a part of yesterday. It was made up of six men and six women. We ranged in age from 25 to 70 years old. There were no represenatives of any minority peoples, but considering they make up less than 1% of the local population that is not surprising. We had a young, female newlywed. We had two business owners (including your's truly). We had a veteran high school teacher, and a first year kindergarten teacher. We had a retired accountant. We had a construction laborer. We had an elderly housewife. We had a stay-at-home dad. We had a social worker, a bank teller, and a fisherman.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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15 comments:
You would have to assume that Cheney's dick hangs quite a bit to the right.
and does our poor wander have to somehow cough up money he doesn't have for a steep fine or does he spend some time in the county jail?
I don't envy you. I would not want to be responsible for anyone's fate, guilty or not.
Now Ted, I think you are assuming some things here that are not in evidence. We don't know that this guy is "poor" and we don't know that he is a wanderer. He listed himself as a transient, I believe, to avoid letting the cops know the location of the crackhouse he lives at.
I agree that the system likes to chew people up and spit them out into the nearest sewer, but that doesn't mean that every person arrested is simply a poor soul trying to find his way. Sometimes the guy is a car thief. And that means there is a victim when he commits his crime. That woman down the coast had children to get to daycare and a job to get to in order to support them. He deprived her of at least two days worth of wages. Thats pretty tough on a young, single mother.
Personally I believe in the American trial by jury system. If I were on trial (whether rightfully or wrongfully accused) I would demand a jury trial. I would hope like hell that I got a jury full of people like the panel I was just on yesterday. I'll say more about that in my next post.
There are a lot of people who are poor, and I'm sorry, but they should know the difference between right and wrong. If he did the crime, he should do the time.
I was a 'victim' of identity theft six years ago. The young married couple who stole from me and countless others on their little joyride theft spree were caught, jailed, had to pay me and the other people they victimized restitution, not to mention THOUSANDS of dollars in fines. I was sent the documents of the fines and such they had to pay and I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF. I didn't even care about the financial restitution to me after that, because the satisfaction of knowing that they didn't get away with what they did AND had a criminal record was payment enough for me. When it was all said and done, I guess they should have known from the first damn place NOT to take money, credit cards, purses or checkbooks and use these things that were NOT THEIRS, and then they wouldn't end up having to pay fines. I don't feel sorry for people who use the excuse that they are poor. I sure as hell didn't grow up with silver spoon in my mouth, much less have a father in my life growing up. But in the end, I did know right from wrong, and I was raised by one hell of a single mother. That 'woa-is-me' bullshit doesn't fly, especially when I grew up in similar circumstances and brought myself UP. I decided to get an education, paid for it myself via college loans and the debt was worth it.
If the evidence is there and presents itself, then I'm sure the jurors will do what's in their power to see that justice is done properly.
Geez Jacq, are you fired up or what? lol. Good. I was hoping to see some passion in the comments here.
Jury duty sucks. Ted your daughter is beautiful--not surprising with all the Dutch genes.
Not really fired up, just tired of people's excuses to do wrong. It urks me.
hey, all I'm saying is I don't want the responsibility of deciding someone's fate.
trial by jury is one thing, but I don't want to be on the jury.
now, let's put those fangs away.
I actually do want to be on the jury because (toot toot - thats me tooting my own horn) I'd rather have a smart, open minded, fair, authority distrusting, guy like me on the jury rather than some right-wing wacko who thinks the US Constitution is something you wipe your ass with.
Ted, my fangs aren't even close to being out.
But my claws, well, that's an entirely different story...
Nothing activates my gag reflex faster than the idea of jury duty. That and spearmint toothpaste before sunrise.
I go for the peroxide and baking soda toothpaste that Jacq reccommended. Its awful tasting before sunrise too but it shines up the teeth like a mutha.
You have to admit, Cats, that toothpaste totally rocks!
toothpaste, jury duty, and a gag reflex. Chuck, it is time for an update.
okay, check out my new post.
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