December 20, 2019
Dear Everyone:
Last month, before we flew off to spend the week-after-Thanksgiving with
“Richard” and “Marge”, I received a postcard in the mail.
It informed me that I had been summoned for Jury Duty in the
County of Contra Costa.
At first I thought I would have to request an extension, which is no
problem. In the Contra Costa
County judicial system, the first request is automatically granted with
no real need for a reason.
You just go to their website and enter the requisite information and
your name goes back into the “hopper”.
But then I took a closer look at the date and realized that the summons
was for the day after our return.
In fact, for the actual day, I had to wait until 11:30 in the
morning to find out that I was required to appear in the Jury Assembly
Room by 1:00 pm.
So I drove to the County Seat in Martinez and reported for duty.
Filled out the standard form, clipped on the “Juror” badge and
found a seat. In just a few
minutes, they took roll call and started with the first list of
prospective jurors. And
called my name.
Fortunately for me, the case was in the same courthouse as the Jury
Assembly Room. There are a
number of courthouses in that part of Martinez and some of them are a
bit of a hike away from the one that includes the Jury Office.
Up on the third floor, we traipsed into the courtroom where we were
given the basics of the case.
A man had been pulled over for driving with a broken license
plate light. In the course
of his conversation with Officer “K”, the officer found evidence of
possible Driving Under the Influence of alcohol, and arrested the
Defendant last January.
Then they called the first eighteen names.
I was number 11. It
has been my experience that, once in The Box, I have very little chance
of getting kicked out. I’m
the perfect juror for both the Prosecution and the Defense.
Single (no family to rush home to fix dinner for.)
Stable (worked for the same company for 38 years.)
Reasonably well-educated (college graduate.)
Both sides love me. I
was stuck.
We had testimony for about an hour that Wednesday afternoon and all day
Thursday. Courts routinely
work on “other stuff” on Fridays, so we were off for the weekend.
Back in court Monday when the Prosecution rested their case.
The Public Defender presented her case the rest of Monday and
Tuesday.
Final Arguments. Then we all
trooped into a tiny conference room, complete with two little restrooms.
Seriously, I think they had to take the legs off the table to get
it into the room. There was
enough space for twelve chairs, if no one moved too suddenly.
Someone asked, “Who’s been on a jury before?”
I reluctantly raised my hand, as did one or two others.
Fortunately, an elderly Alpha Male promptly announced his
intention of taking over as Jury Foreman.
This was another classic example of someone who ferociously wrests
leadership away from everyone else, and then doesn’t lead.
We started out with a “straw poll” that showed roughly, one-third
for conviction; one-third for acquittal; and one-third undecided.
This prompted a procedural question to the Court:
While a conviction requires all twelve, is acquittal also “all or
nothing”, or can it be split?
I knew the answer, of course, but elected to keep my mouth shut
as there were quite enough self-declared experts verbally running around
at the time.
The answer came back: You
haven’t deliberated nearly long enough.
Get back to work.
Also, it was nearly 4:15 in the afternoon, the time when they start
chasing people out of the building to close at 5:00.
So we adjourned for the day.
At 8:30 Wednesday morning, we reconvened.
The Alpha Male Foreman opted to let everyone talk at once for a while.
The first half-hour was spent verbally fluttering around like a dozen
demented butterflies. Then
the Foreman decided to try and get some control over things.
Someone asked if deciding on Count 2 would automatically mean
that Count 1 would go the same way.
I managed to jump in and “suggest” that we just focus on one issue at a
time. Bear in mind that I
spent a lot of years on project teams that required getting consensus
from everyone on one thing or another.
Question: How do you eat a
chocolate elephant? Answer:
One bite at a time.
Let’s consider Count 1 for the moment.
Count 1 consisted of two Statements:
Statement One: The
Defendant was driving the vehicle.
Did anyone have any doubts about that?
No. We all saw the
body camera recording of Officer K speaking to the Defendant while he
was sitting behind the wheel of the truck.
Never mind what make and model of truck it was.
Everyone agreed the Defendant was driving the vehicle.
I was biting my tongue not to point out that eyewitness accounts are
notoriously unreliable.
Everyone believes their own eyes, even when they each see something
different.
On to Statement Two: The
Defendant was under the influence of alcohol at the time Officer K
pulled him over. By focusing
on only this one part of the whole thing, those who were undecided had
only one thing to think about.
The Defendant was belligerent with Officer K.
During the roadside sobriety test, the Defendant didn’t follow
directions. The Defendant
refused to continue with the test.
That, along with slurred speech, inability to hold his balance,
mutterings of “I’m OK”, pointed to an answer of “Yes”.
With Count 1 safely out of the way, it was time to tackle Count 2.
Again, there were two Statements:
Statement One: The
defendant was driving the vehicle.
Did anyone have any doubts about that?
Again, no.
Statement Two: The Defendant
had a Breath Alcohol Concentration of 0.08% or higher.
That brought it all down to only one issue to decide.
Did we believe the instrument was working properly at the time?
This was really the crux of the Defense:
The machine was broken.
We spent about ten to fifteen minutes going over the maintenance log,
which went back to a year before the incident, up until it was taken out
of service fully three months later.
There was nothing wrong with the machine.
By 9:30, the Foreman was filling out the official forms.
And that was that. In fact,
most jury cases only last 2-3 days.
But I did learn one important thing.
It turns out that the IRS doesn’t consider jury pay to be taxable
income unless you get over $600.
So I don’t have to remember to report it when I do my taxes next
year.
Everyone have a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!
Love, as always,
Pete
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