Well, my jury duty is over in 6 hours. I was selcted and was done that fast. My case was a young man, Harris, who was charged with obstruction of justice. Here's the basic rundown in a few sentences.
A cop pulled Harris over at 5 in the morning and did a search. While he was checking the right pants pocket the defendant reached into his left pocket and grabbed a baggie with a white powder. The cop noticed it and suspected crack cocaine. But before the cop could get it away from him, the defendant swallowed it. The officer was the only witness so the evidence took only about 45 minutes to present.
It was a real open and shut case. We only needed 25 minutes to decide unanimously Harris had knowingly destroyed evidence and intended to obstruct the prosecution. The defense never denied there was cocaine present. Harris even made a confession at the hospital he was taken to afterwards. But possession wasn't the issue. The key issues were did he intend to destroy evidence and obstruct the prosecution?
I stayed fair and open-minded, but I knew very early on I was voting guilty. The defense attorney, while very attractive I must add, really had no shot of getting him off. I don't think Johnnie Cochran could have pulled this one off. But it was hard to do it. It's just tough to impose a punishment on a young man. But the truth is the truth and I hope Mr. Harris and his girlfriend, who was present, learn from this. Sentencing will come in a f ew weeks.
It was quite a day. I woke up at 6 a.m. and got to the building at 8 a.m. I only waited 30 minutes to go to a deliberating room. Actually they had some really good donuts in the jury lounge. The glazed ones were especially good. So I was in a good mood going in. The trial was fast. The judge seemed like a fair and decent guy. My fellow jurors were very sociable and we worked very well together. There were 10 men and 4 women and mostly in their 40's and 50's. I was one of maybe 2 people younger than 35. All in all I enjoyed my time.
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