Not Exactly 12 Angry Men

It was more like 3 confused men and 3 confused women. I was on a jury in the County Court at Law #2 in Williamson County, Texas. Since it was a county court, it had 6 instead of 12 members. This is like my tenth time to be called for jury duty, and the 3rd time Ive actually been selected. What have I done to deserve this? Don't answer that!!!

This time I was on a family violence case. It was a 21 year old guy and an 18 year old girl who were common law married. Get this, they had 3 kids when it happened in August of '03. They now have 4 kids, and she's going to turn 20 on Halloween Day. We acquitted him, because there was a "reasonable doubt." The girl said one thing on the day and another thing on the stand. They did not put her written statement into evidence from the day it happened. The only thing we had was her testimony today and the cop's. Anyway, she took the stand and took the 5th. Yes, she took the 5th amendment! She was afraid that she would be prosecuted for perjury or lying to a police officer. She had a court-appointed attorney who advised her to take the 5th. So, the prosecutor had to find her to get her served a subpoena, then she gets to the stand and takes the 5th. They rush us out of the courtroom while they all argue about it. So, when we return she's still on the stand, and is now willing to testify, because she has been given immunity from prosecution for perjury. Which I think she proceeded to commit, but was immune from prosecution. Anyway, there was story A and story B. When it happened she refused any treatment or even examination by EMS, so there was no medical type evidence of her injuries. There were some photos of scratches on her arms and one on her neck, but she says she doesn't remember how that happened. She says she punched the guy in the nose causing him a bloody nose (I believe this part), and that the blood on the floor and the walls is from that. It actually seems more plausible than blood from her scratches. Anyway, it was VERY confusing, and so we had reasonable doubt. After it was over and we had acquitted him, we find out that he is already in prison for bank robbery. He was the guy that was holding up banks in Cedar Park. He had held up several and gotten away with it for a while. They had to get him out of prison to come stand trial on this charge. He has other charges pending on Family Violence. The judge came to us afterward and said that if he had heard the case he would have done the same thing. He just felt there was reasonable doubt.

It's been quite a couple of days! That makes the 3rd time I've been on a jury, and the first time that I was jury foreman. What an honor.

Anxiety, Fear, and Depression

A new study in China reveals that 22% of children there suffer from behavioral and emotional problems. They feel it is due to the traditionalist kind of education, and the "only child" policy in China. No wonder I'm so fucked up! I'm an only child at 53.

Jury Duty

Yes, again. For a few years there while I wasn't registered to vote, I quit having to go to jury duty. I was getting called every year, and sometimes more than once a year. I have lost count of how many times I've been called. Anyway, I got called again. Today was the day. I have been assigned to a jury panel to be convened on Thursday in a County Court at Law. Those courts are kinda like Triple-A baseball. It's still the minor leagues, but it's just short of the majors. Last time, I got called to a Justice of the Peace Court which isn't even a court of record, for God's sake! Talk about minor league!

A court of record means that when you appeal there is a record of all the evidence presented, and it's put under review. But, when a case is appealed from a court that is not a court of record, everything starts over, as if the first trial never happened. So, I was on a jury in a JP court and we found the guy guilty. But, he appealed, and all we did was irrelevant. At least on Thursday, our efforts won't just be for naught.