Final Verdicts

I was glad to have Girl's Night with Amy & Jamie on Tuesday when I realized I'd have to make my final verdict for the Burglary case I was on at Jury Duty on Wednesday morning.  

When I arrived at the courthouse on Wednesday I had spent the entire previous day's afternoon and evening thinking about what I needed to do.  I had been thinking with my heart and emotions for the most part but I knew I needed to think with my head and do what was right.  We had listened to the Closing Arguments from the Prosecution and Defense Attorney's on Tuesday and went back to the Deliberation room and were at a 4-8 split.  We only had about 30 minutes in the room before we were told to meet back there tomorrow morning.  Taking the time apart was the best decision for everyone because we knew what we needed to do.  A lot of people were on the fence the previous day and the first thing I said when I got into the room was, 'I think we all know what was about to happen here, and we can sit here and deliberate all morning, thinking about the what if's, but we can't prove intent, so we need to follow what we've been told.'  Then I said, I had been very emotional the previous evening and the woman next to me said, it's a matter of black and white, it's one or the other, and it doesn't matter how we feel.  They had to be proved guilty and in this situation, there was reasonable doubt, we couldn't prove intent, therefore, we all voted not guilty and within 5 minutes of walking in the door, we were handing in our Final Verdict.

If someone was knocking on your door, you weren't expecting anyone, you didn't recognize them, but they continued to knock.  Then they started to pound on the door, messing with the door knob and lock.  After 10 minutes they walked to the back of your house, saw that they were re-enforced with bars, then walked back to the front and continued to pound.  As you set your alarm and they heard when it was activated and said, someone is in there, and stayed there for a few minutes until they fled the scene but were caught by authorities and didn't resist, what would you think their intention was?  I guarantee they weren't pounding on your door to sit on a comfy couch and watch some TV.  But guess what.  It's not up to me to decide what they would or wouldn't do.  Unfortunately, the police didn't do a thorough job and because of that, these two guys are getting off.  Yes, I know they didn't actually get into the house but what were they doing there, in the middle of the day, for 15 minutes?  We all need to think realistically about it, and hope that they have learned their lesson, and a Lawyer won't need to tell the next Burglary Victim that they were at a trial in the past and were given a verdict of not guilty because there wasn't enough evidence.  How frustrated would you feel?  I know I did my Civic Duty and I'm proud of myself and glad that I won't have to go back for another 18 months!  

I think one of the coolest things about being done with the case was getting to talk to the Lawyers after.  Of course, the DA wanted to know why we voted not guilty and we told him there just wasn't enough evidence to prove intent.  I spoke on behalf of all of us that we thought he was great, intelligent, funny, and very respectful and it was an unfortunate situation.  The Defense Attorney's were very appreciative of our decision and asked if there was anything they could do to better themselves for their next case.  A bunch of people spoke up about some pet peeves with each of the lawyers but said for the most part, they did a good job in reinforcing that we had to prove intent and if we couldn't we would have to vote not guilty.  By burning that into our minds it gave them the edge because we knew they were right.

So to my reader's, if your house ever gets Burglarized, make sure that the Police take fingerprints, insist upon it, and give the best description you possibly can.  Give them anything that sticks out, or is out of the ordinary and you'll be in a far better place than the family in my case was.  Be safe and be fair.

On the case!

On Wednesday I wrote a blog about Jury Duty, little did I know that I would be coming back to the Courthouse for more than one day.

After lunch on my first day at Jury Duty on Wednesday they called another group of people, but this time instead of 20 people there were over 50 of us called and I was the first of the group.  As I walked up to the 15th floor and waited, when most of us had arrived they did role call and we waited for everyone to show up.  It was amazing to see that we had already lost a few people on our way up 2 floors.  So that delayed everything and when we finally got into the courtroom and took our seats it was after 3 pm.  The Judge introduced the case and the lawyers and said we wouldn't be in court on Friday, not because he was playing Golf, but because he had a prior commitment.  It was nice to see a little humor in the courtroom.  

Then one by one, they called people up by their Juror ID and I became Juror #6.  I was nervous as I took my seat in the Jury Box and as we filled all the seats the next part was something they never show on TV or on the Court Shows.  There was a question and answer format as well as general information about yourself.  You say where you live, your marital status, your occupation as well as if you've served on a Jury before.  The Judge told me to be elaborate and asked if anyone would have seen me in anything when I said I was an Actress and Bartender.  I didn't want to get into too many details since everyone in the room including the defendants were there so I mentioned my Hosting Job for PowerTV and said it was a great experience.  Then we had to answer if we knew any police, lawyers, knew of a crime to a family member or ourselves, and if we'd ever testified or been a witness in court.  I thought by saying that my purse was stolen might get me excused from the case, but I said I could be unbiased in the trial that would happen next week and they went on with everyone else.  It was easy to spot those that were trying to get out of serving on Jury Duty and everyone has their reasons so if someone is scared or doesn't want to be on a case for whatever reason, just let them leave.  This process took a long time and we didn't finish before the end of the day so we were required to show up on Thursday at 10:30 am to continue with this.

When I arrived the next day, Stacy, another juror I had been chatting with the day before was there already and we started talking since we both were Actors and the younger people of the group.  It was an hour before we even went into the courtroom and we continued the question and answer process and some of the jurors got excused before the Attorney's could ask questions to the Jury Panel.  Some of us were addressed personally by the Prosecuting or Defense Attorney's based on the answers to the questions from the previous day and I got asked about my stolen purse, but I said it was a learning experience and I don't blame LAPD for their inability to find or convict the girl who stole my purse.  As people answered questions, and counsel took breaks to discuss in private, more people were excused until we went to Lunch at 12 pm.  The process continued around 2:15 pm until around 4 pm when they finally had their 12 Jurors and I was one of them.

The Defense Attorney's made sure to explain that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and the Prosecution needs to prove that the defendants did what Prosecution is accusing them of beyond a reasonable doubt.  To be perfectly honest, I'm a little nervous but also excited because I think the whole process will be very interesting.  Of course, I can't say much more than I am or give any details until the case is over but I'm looking forward to the first day of the trial on Monday and listening and making an informed decision based on a fair assessment of the information given to me.

Who knows, maybe I'll decide after this process that I'd like to be more involved with Legal Issues and decide to go back to school and pursue a career in Law.  Those are my initials so I think I have a good start on it ;)