Civic Doodie #2

Today is my first day out of the penalty box known as jury duty. I was selected last Wednesday to be a juror for an attempted murder case. The case started Thursday and ended yesterday afternoon. It was the typical Baltimore type case where The Victim got his ass shot twice by The Teenage Defendant because The Victim decided it was a smart move to deal fake crack cocaine in The Teenage Defendant’s drug territory. The Victim and The Defendant were actually acquaintances prior to this shooting, so it came as no surprise when The Victim changed his testimony many many many times on the stand and suddenly decided he didn’t know The Teenage Defendant and was certain The Teenage Defendant wasn’t the one who shot him on the night of his very bad business decision.

The case was filled with all kinds of gaps and skips and The Victim’s improv testimony didn’t help matters. We had no other choice than to return a Not Guilty verdict on all seven counts of attempted murder, assault, and handgun charges. 

I had never been selected as a juror prior to last Wednesday and the experience was very eye-opening. I was very impressed with professionalism the judge and the state’s prosecutor. The prosecutor was so excellent and so focused and efficient that she had us all mesmerized. It’s just too bad that the case given to her was so weak. Actually, we (the jurors) were wondering how it ever got to trial. The most staggering thing about this case was the profound incompetence of the defense counsel. Never in my life, in any situation, have I ever witness such a degree of incompetence. Trust me, the verdict was returned because of the lack of consistent witness testimony and lack of evidence, not because of persuasive argument on the behalf of the defense. The defense counselor’s incompetence was so stunning that everyone in the courtroom was visibly cringing. We lost count how many times the judge had to reel her in and warn her.

I’ve never been a big death penalty supporter, mainly because the justice system is so flawed. I was sitting there looking at The Teenage Defendant and listening to his incompetent lawyer and all I could do was feel sad. (Did I type that?) I mean, this was just one courtroom in one city and it wasn’t even something like a death penalty case or a murder case. Everyone involved in this case is still alive, as of 5 PM yesterday at least. I got chills thinking about how many innocent people have been ruined by their incompetent lawyers? There is a chance The Teenage Defendant in this case was guilty, but also a chance he was innocent. He was fortunate that the evidence was so weak because his lawyer practically sent him back to jail just by attempting to “defend” him. Oh, and I feel it should be noted that this attorney was not a public defender.

I was very fortunate be locked in a tiny room with thirteen other people who were really cool. We all bonded and wound up having a pretty good time, in spite of the delays and the hours and hours we’d sit with no word from the courtroom. We did a lot of sitting, with bursts of standing on queue, and then more sitting and then more standing and then abrupt sitting. My Catholic upbringing more than adequately prepared me for the physical rigors of jury duty. The jury was an interesting mix of age, race, gender, and background and we could not have been more different. In a strange way, I kind of didn’t want it to end. When do we ever get the chance to sit in a room with other people, with no distractions, and actually have face-to-face interactions? There were no TVs or computers or muzak and only very minimal cell phone access. I was relieved to not be plugged in for four and a half days. I started to remember what it was like in Ye Olden Tymes when people used to make eye contact and engage in pleasant conversation with total strangers. The irony of the previous sentence appearing in a blog post is not lost on me, by the way.