So Back in March I got called for jury duty, I couldn't get out of it but I got to postpone until school was over. So on the Monday after I graduated I had to head downtown to the County Courthouse to perform my civic duty. I got called into the jury pool for the third case of the day which just happened to be a double homicide. Lucky me. Well, I didn't know exactly how the jury selection process works, but apparently you have to say something to get yourself unselected. Nothing I said raised any red flags that got me kicked off the island.
They told us the trial would probably last all week--and they were right. Three full days of testimony from all kinds of witnesses: officers on duty, sheriffs deputies, police investigators, gang specialists, character witnesses, and eye witnesses. Followed by two days of jury deliberations. It was an intense week. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. There were tears in the jury room from most of us--me included. If you know me, you know that's unusual because I'm not a crier. It doesn't matter how clear the evidence is, it's hard to be responsible for sending a kid away to prison for life.
After the judge read our verdict on Friday afternoon, the whole jury was escorted out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies. Since I'd taken the light rail downtown, I got a ride all the way home in the back of a gang unit deputy car. Like I said, the whole experience was way too intense for my first week of summer "vacation."
Since then I've been working and working some more. I'll give an update on the job(s) in my next post!
