I was actually selected to be on a jury! It was a felony case that lasted 2 days. Two young punks jumped an El Salvadoran busboy coming home from work along a local bike path. One got him in a neck hold while the other patted down his pockets looking for money. When the victim broke free, our defendant pulled out a pistol and shot him. Luckily for all concerned, the victim was not badly hurt, and the two would-be robbers ran away.
Our defendant was 21 years old, but short and skinny, so that he looked about 15. The victim identified him in court, through an interpreter. The other robber identified our guy as the one who did the shooting. The defendant did not testify, nor offer any defense at all, as is his right. A defendant is innocent unless proven guilty. The prosecution attorney also presented a witness who had seen the defendant the night before, displaying a pistol and bragging about it. She sounded and looked honest, and had called the police right away about the gun. One of the four charges against the defendant was possession of a gun by a felon, so that witness really did him in.
Frankly, we all thought the guy was guilty of all four offenses, but a couple of us thought the prosecution case was a little weak. The gun was never found, and there was no physical evidence at all except the bullet pulled out of the victim's abdomen. The victim's identification was a little shaky. He said a short black guy shot him and then pointed at the only short black guy in the courtroom. The detective who interviewed our guy said the defendant admitted to being at the scene, although the defendant blamed the shooting on a third person that we never got to hear from. Unfortunately for the defendant, the victim insisted there were only two attackers - one tall and one short, and the short guy shot him. The other robber (the tall guy) also insisted they were acting alone, and denied that anyone else was with them. The guy who dropped them off at one end of the bike path and picked them up at the other end also denied seeing this third person.
The deliberations took 4 hours. Then we had to decide on a sentence for him. The prosecution entered evidence of 4 previous robberies and an assault and battery.
The defense attorney said our guy had a bad childhood. I felt sorry for the guy. I'm sure he did have a rough childhood, and he was probably as dumb as a post, but we were not inclined to let him roam the streets robbing people and playing with guns. His previous sentences had been suspended to give him a chance to behave himself, but he did not take advantage of that opportunity. So we gave him a sentence that will probably keep him locked up until he's 35. I felt bad about it, but I'd have felt bad about letting him go again, too.
The deliberations were fascinating. We all spoke our minds, and were very civilized about it. One of the jurors watched a lot of CSI, and wanted there to be more crime scene evidence. (Dream on - Fairfax county doesn't have that kind of money.) I watch Rumpole of the Bailey, so I wanted to believe the defense, but in the end I couldn't. Our hope is this kid will live longer in jail than out of it.
