spencer rifle
Grandmaster
Back in Ohio I was on two juries - 1 civil and 1 criminal. A lawyer friend of mine told me I'd never make the cut, since I had a beard and they would think I was an anarchist.
Civil - During selection we nearly had everyone needed and the judge asked who in the pool had important work or events they did not want to miss. She let them go. Still too many, so she asked who did just not want to be there, and let more go. By then we had our 8 and 2. After the trial evidence admission let us down, as we had seen a photo of the front of the car with no damage, which rendered the defendant's case impossible, but that particular photo was not admitted as evidence. We were done in two days.
Criminal - a capital murder case. Drug robbery gone wrong, lots of bloody photos and a Tec-9. Started off with a pool of 60 potential jurors, and when selection was done there were 2 left. Judge let some guy off for work, and that moved me from alternate to the jury. Took 3 days for the trial, then sequestered for the verdict. The only thing we had in common was the trail and the only thing we couldn't talk about was the trail. Played a lot of spades that night. A week later we were back for the sentencing phase. Took all day, and we were sequestered again overnight. Came back with life without parole. The judge complimented us on a job well done, and gave us more background, such as a previous trial of a co-defendant came up with the same verdict and sentence.
As an interesting addition, I had given blood about a week before and the miserable phlebotomist went through the vein and into the nerve below. The numbness lasted for years, but also gave them a false positive for syphilis on a preliminary test. They sent a letter to my home informing me of this, and that they would be doing further testing (which came up negative). That letter happened to arrive while I was sequestered, and my wife opened it. She was shocked, but couldn't call me because I was sequestered. Made for an interesting homecoming. Timing is everything.
Civil - During selection we nearly had everyone needed and the judge asked who in the pool had important work or events they did not want to miss. She let them go. Still too many, so she asked who did just not want to be there, and let more go. By then we had our 8 and 2. After the trial evidence admission let us down, as we had seen a photo of the front of the car with no damage, which rendered the defendant's case impossible, but that particular photo was not admitted as evidence. We were done in two days.
Criminal - a capital murder case. Drug robbery gone wrong, lots of bloody photos and a Tec-9. Started off with a pool of 60 potential jurors, and when selection was done there were 2 left. Judge let some guy off for work, and that moved me from alternate to the jury. Took 3 days for the trial, then sequestered for the verdict. The only thing we had in common was the trail and the only thing we couldn't talk about was the trail. Played a lot of spades that night. A week later we were back for the sentencing phase. Took all day, and we were sequestered again overnight. Came back with life without parole. The judge complimented us on a job well done, and gave us more background, such as a previous trial of a co-defendant came up with the same verdict and sentence.
As an interesting addition, I had given blood about a week before and the miserable phlebotomist went through the vein and into the nerve below. The numbness lasted for years, but also gave them a false positive for syphilis on a preliminary test. They sent a letter to my home informing me of this, and that they would be doing further testing (which came up negative). That letter happened to arrive while I was sequestered, and my wife opened it. She was shocked, but couldn't call me because I was sequestered. Made for an interesting homecoming. Timing is everything.
Dude's a professional.
