Proven
The long trial I was serving jury duty for is over and is now yesterday's news:
www.vcstar.com/news/2010/nov/09/3-defendants-found-guilty...
The charges were solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Of course there is plenty to say. You can't always believe what you read in the paper and there is at least one inaccuracy in this very article. (The name of the man who took photos in the courtroom is the wrong man). The reporter who wrote the above article was in the courtroom every day of the trial. He interviewed me and a couple of other jurors after the trial ended, but nothing we said is in the article. It's interesting to me what he chose to include and exclude from his article.
In the article is a comment from one of the defense attorneys, 'Here, the jury convicts them because they were thinking about it' and 'What a world we live in'. This was from the same defense attorney that was pointing the guns that were used in the crimes at the jury as he was giving his closing arguments. Unbelievable.
Another defense attorney as one of his mere handful of exhibits, shows us a picture of a 'Get out of jail free' card from Monopoly to suggest that is what the prosecution gave their witnesses. Also, he showed us a picture of a package of Jell-o pudding and started talking about his grandmother instead of anything that had to do with the trial itself. Was this a game to him? How many years of education did he have to come up with that? Ridiculous.
That was probably intended to be a distraction, which only got me to think of my own grandparents, all of which were amazing people. Because my grandfather (who died before I was 1yo) was an attorney, I have always had respect for attorneys. Good attorneys. The prosecuting attorneys were from the Attorney General's office and were completely professional. They worked for Governor Elect Moonbeam, who is currently our Attorney General.
Regardless of how the attorneys are, our responsiblity is to be fair and impartial based on the evidence and how the law applies. And we were true to that in rendering our verdict.
One more thing...Ventura County has two of the Safest Cities in America according to the FBI...Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. This is a fantastic place to live. Two of the three defendants in this trial were not from Ventura County, but would drive over 200 miles to come here from Indio. Amazing the lengths that some people will go to do bad things. Be sure to lock your doors.
I'm back today only for a day. Since this has taken so long, I have a lot of catching up to do before I can return to posting everyday. My goal is to be back to normal by around Thanksgiving. Thank you to everyone who came by my stream while I was on jury duty. Your loyalty and patience means a lot. I miss you! I'm hoping to have some treats for you when I return. . .
Proven
The long trial I was serving jury duty for is over and is now yesterday's news:
www.vcstar.com/news/2010/nov/09/3-defendants-found-guilty...
The charges were solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Of course there is plenty to say. You can't always believe what you read in the paper and there is at least one inaccuracy in this very article. (The name of the man who took photos in the courtroom is the wrong man). The reporter who wrote the above article was in the courtroom every day of the trial. He interviewed me and a couple of other jurors after the trial ended, but nothing we said is in the article. It's interesting to me what he chose to include and exclude from his article.
In the article is a comment from one of the defense attorneys, 'Here, the jury convicts them because they were thinking about it' and 'What a world we live in'. This was from the same defense attorney that was pointing the guns that were used in the crimes at the jury as he was giving his closing arguments. Unbelievable.
Another defense attorney as one of his mere handful of exhibits, shows us a picture of a 'Get out of jail free' card from Monopoly to suggest that is what the prosecution gave their witnesses. Also, he showed us a picture of a package of Jell-o pudding and started talking about his grandmother instead of anything that had to do with the trial itself. Was this a game to him? How many years of education did he have to come up with that? Ridiculous.
That was probably intended to be a distraction, which only got me to think of my own grandparents, all of which were amazing people. Because my grandfather (who died before I was 1yo) was an attorney, I have always had respect for attorneys. Good attorneys. The prosecuting attorneys were from the Attorney General's office and were completely professional. They worked for Governor Elect Moonbeam, who is currently our Attorney General.
Regardless of how the attorneys are, our responsiblity is to be fair and impartial based on the evidence and how the law applies. And we were true to that in rendering our verdict.
One more thing...Ventura County has two of the Safest Cities in America according to the FBI...Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. This is a fantastic place to live. Two of the three defendants in this trial were not from Ventura County, but would drive over 200 miles to come here from Indio. Amazing the lengths that some people will go to do bad things. Be sure to lock your doors.
I'm back today only for a day. Since this has taken so long, I have a lot of catching up to do before I can return to posting everyday. My goal is to be back to normal by around Thanksgiving. Thank you to everyone who came by my stream while I was on jury duty. Your loyalty and patience means a lot. I miss you! I'm hoping to have some treats for you when I return. . .