The Verdict Is In
My jury service ended last Tuesday; we (the jury) reached a unanimous verdict.
Why has it taken me so long to post about it? Some combination of laziness, busyness, and general lack of motivation. I leave the exact mixture to your imagination.
I found jury service to be a very interesting experience. It was neat to see the judicial system in action. The trial was much calmer and more orderly than the typical TV/movie trial, which isn't really surprising. I was a bit disappointed by the performance of the attorneys; the prosecutor, in particular seemed a bit underprepared.
The real fun began with the jury deliberations. As you can imagine, getting 12 people to come to a unanimous agreement is no small achievement, especially when the prosecutor's argument was spotty at best. We spent about six hours or so deliberating. The case ultimately came down. to a question of the accused's intent, and figuring out a person's motivations and thoughts isn't the easiest thing to do. Being the philosophically-minded guy that I am, I spent a lot of time (inside and outside the deliberation room) thinking about the connections between thought and action. This naturally reminded me of James 2:14-26 and the long-standing debate over faith and works. But such musings are for another time.
In the end, we found the defendant guilty on both of the two counts, which involved failure to register as a sex offender. We agreed that it wasn't malicious (he probably didn't plan to start stalking people), he was just tired of needing to register as often as he did (every 30 days, at that point). Since failure to register is a felony, a guilty verdict usually means 3-5 years in prison. Which is actually rather sad in this case, but it wasn't our job to determine the sentence.
Jury duty can certainly be inconvenient, but the service itself seems to be a worthwhile and (in some ways) fun venture. I wouldn't mind serving again in the future, I think.
That's enough for a quick summary (I've gotta get back to work). Feel free to leave any questions/observations as comments, as always.
Labels: Life update
posted by Martinez at 9:03 AM
4 Comments:
"We agreed that it wasn't malicious (he probably didn't plan to start stalking people), he was just tired of needing to register as often as he did (every 30 days, at that point). Since failure to register is a felony, a guilty verdict usually means 3-5 years in prison. Which is actually rather sad in this case, but it wasn't our job to determine the sentence."
That said, I would imagine he knew the consequences of his actions. Just goes to show the law isn't for only when you feel like following it...
"Just goes to show the law isn't for only when you feel like following it..."
Of course not; I didn't mean to imply otherwise. What really made the situation sad (and what I failed to mention in the post proper) is that the defendant was offered parole, but he chose instead to go to court. Frankly, I hope the judge gave him a somewhat lighter sentence than the recommended. I'll probably never know. *shrugs*
KD, don't you agree that 3-5 years in prison for a procedural violation is "sad," however much it was this fool's own fault?
I imagine you don't like it when defendants are declared innocent on technicalities. Some of us don't like it when their lives are taken away from them on technicalities, either. We don't even have to disagree with the law to find it tragic.
Martinez: (sorry for not responding sooner...I plead absent mind) I'm sorry if I made it sound like you were suggesting this. I do hope that the judge goes as light as possible on him. Not choosing parole sounds a bit odd...
Wilson: Depends on the procedure. That, and the fact that, as I said, he surely knew the consequences of his actions. It's rather sad that it happened, but so it goes. I don't find the law "tragic", really; perhaps a bit disappointing, but not tragic.
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