Court

I don't really want to talk about the court case this week. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting. Jury duty means a lot more than I ever imagined. Never in a million years did I imagine myself sitting on a murder trial. But I did. As juror #2. It was an unforgettable experience. I hope no one has to go through what we did. Parts of me are very glad that we had the jurors that were there. I can honestly and truly say that the defendant had the most caring jurors he could possible have. Each and every one of us struggled with our decisions. It was not an easy case. I've copied the newspaper story below. Parts of it are wrong. Parts have been slightly pulled in one direction or another. It was never stated that the reasoning for the gun was due to gang activity. Gang actvitiy had nothing to do with this crime. To be completely honest, while we considered things that happend in the past, the point was that this man killed someone. We had to use the facts and testimony that had been presented and apply the law to the case.

Law is hard. It's not cut and dry. We had to look at many different angles in this case. We wanted very badly to reach a verdict of second degree murder but it was not possible. Given the circumstances, the facts, the testimony of the defendant, we could not do it. The defendant made a very bad judgement call and because of that mistake, he was convicted. Every single juror wished we could turn the evidence to make it second degree, but we couldn't do it. We even asked the judge to clarify specific parts of the law but he was unable to assist us in this and stated that the law was written in simple language that we should be able to understand and interpret.

Every juror maintained an open mind. NO ONE was against the defendant and I was so proud to be part of a jury that was so open and honest. We had a diverse group and I think each of us was there for a purpose. Several jury members were emotional. While I wasn't visibly emotional during the trial, I would be lying if I said I never cried. We knew the impact of our decision. We all knew that if our verdict was first degree murder, this man would serve a mandatory sentence of life in prison. We took our role very seriously and I think that the defendant and his family should know that. (Though I doubt they'll ever read this blog!)

There are so many more things to write, especially in response to the article below. Maybe at some point but today, I don't have it. I need a break. A man, a young man, will be spending the rest of his life in prison because of a decision that was made yesterday. Knowing that I was part of that is a lot to digest.

Jury finds man guilty of murder
Friday, January 30, 2009

*Edited 22/05/09 to remove newspaper story