17 June 2005
On May 31, 2005 I did my civic duty and helped charge a man with first degree murder. This was my fourth time being called for jury duty but only my second time serving on a jury - the first case was a civil case. I must say I found the whole proceedings very interesting specially after watching all those episodes of Law and Order, Homicide, and CSI. Unfortunately the case was not resolved within a one hour episode, it lasted 5 days including deliberation. There were no TV cameras waiting outside the courthouse no mention in the newspapers, although I was told not to read the paper in case there was mention of the case and no court artist.
After all was said and done the judge met with the jury to answer some questions, one of our main questions was how much time this person would get; we were told possibly somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 plus consecutive years, while I felt a bit sorry for the guy and for the family of the guy that was killed I couldn't help not being too sorry since by no means were these two people saints - they were both heroin dealers and one was also an addict.
After all was said and done the judge met with the jury to answer some questions, one of our main questions was how much time this person would get; we were told possibly somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 plus consecutive years, while I felt a bit sorry for the guy and for the family of the guy that was killed I couldn't help not being too sorry since by no means were these two people saints - they were both heroin dealers and one was also an addict.
