The Trial: Day 9 (May 15th)

Day 9

This was officially the day of burnout for all of us on the jury. There's something about getting to the end of the week and realizing that you haven't led a normal life for two weeks, and that there isn't a clear end in sight. Even though I don't particularly mind this as a change of pace, there really is something extremely draining about going to court every day.

I can't speak for anyone else, but my mind was definitely wandering during portions of today, especially during moments where I knew that the testimony wouldn't be very relevant. We actually had a surprisingly diverse range of testimony today, everything from CHP dispatchers to the wife of the defendant accused of murder (she was, for lack of a better phrase, dumb as a brick and completely unreliable).

But something unbelievable happened today; the case ended!!!! Yes, both sides, after nine days, rested their cases. But of course, we're not done. We get to hear closing arguments, and then we get to deliberate. Yippee.

Today also featured a number of very funny moments in the court between the judge and both the defense and the prosecution, including both sides being EXTREMELY testy towards each other. The DA in particular was on edge today for some reason. The judge handled it all with aplomb, however, and seemed to be in quite a good mood today in general.

Also, we were asked to be by ourselves again today, and interestingly, there wasn't really that much discussion regarding the conversation that our defendant had with the detectives. The prosecutor tried to make it seem like he was making stuff up when he described the room, but he remembered a wall heater (albeit in the wrong part of the room) that I had never noticed even after looking at the pictures of the apartment for two weeks. Also, if what he was saying was the truth, then I could easily understand why he didn't remember everything clearly. He also really didn't incriminate himself when presented with fake evidence and eyewitness accounts from the detectives, which suggests there's more truth to it than fiction. We shall see what happens next week. We're going to be gone Monday and Tuesday of next week due to a scheduling conflict, so these will resume on Wednesday.

Random Notes

I was pulling into the jury parking lot today when I realized I didn't have my juror ID, which you need to park there and to get into the building. I also had twenty minutes before my call time. So I sped back home, got the badge, and made it back in time (of course, we started thirty five minutes late, but still). However, as I was speeding out of the parking lot, I got to an intersection that was photo enforced and started to make a right on a red light. Now I slowed down, but not to a complete stop like I should have, and a guy went blazing through the intersection, turning left, from the other direction (it was a green light for him). He went through just as I was turning, and a camera positioned at the intersection flashed brightly twice. I have no idea if it was catching him or I, but I have a feeling it was him. In any case, if it was me, then I may have my first ever traffic citation ever coming up. Somehow, I doubt it, but we shall see.

Today was a bit strange in that I never once entered the cafeteria; we got out too late to do that. There's a good chance I'll never enter that cafeteria again. Thank god.

When we came back into the courtroom after lunch, and everybody was setting up, the judge made an offhand comment that someone had accused him of speaking too fast today. He said it sheepishly and with a grin. He added that he wouldn't tell who it was, but that he felt bad. We all laughed good-naturedly, but it was a bit odd. This all went on official court record.

There were a stunning number of observers today for some reason, and they all seemed to be there for our case as opposed to waiting for their case to be heard. At one point, there were easily thirty people in the observers chairs (usually, there are about six or seven).

Today confirmed that both defense attorneys are public defenders. They're both decent, although one is clearly way better and more confident than the other. If I had to be a defense attorney, that's likely the route I'd want to go; it just seems the noblest to me.

I did a little research on our judge today. He's been a judge since 2002, and was appointed at what strikes me as the relatively young age of 46 (he's 54 now, and doesn't look a day over 40)! He's also Latino (I had no idea) and graduated magna cum laude from Whittier College. He was the head of the habeas corpus case branch of the DA office in Los Angeles, and dealt with about twenty five major cases as a DA (as in murder/high-profile cases) before becoming a judge. What struck me the most about this is that there's a habeus corpus branch in the LA DA's office! As it turns out, LA has by far the largest DA's office in the country; it employs well over 1000 attorneys, and has police-led investigative branches of its own that are bigger than a lot of police squads across the nation. Pretty wild.