A Jury of His Peers (Pt. 3)

The Finalists

This disparate band of strangers, cobbled together only hours before, was now one - a club; no, a family.  Brought together by a random cut of the cards, fate bonded them to common duty. They would now share their lives for a few short days.  The cook, the college professor, the construction company owner, the librarian, the teachers, the operations mgr., the rescue mission person, the students, the shipping clerk, the retirees - each would now enter into an experience the rest of us could only imagine. No matter the separate paths they would travel when trial was done, they would never be completely apart again.  And in a strange, wistful way, I was so envious. In the coming days they would go through a life event I shall never know.  It was then that I realized, I wanted to be one of them. 

They were given some preliminary instructions, then led away to the jury room behind the bench. The rest of us were dismissed, our service completed for this day.  We could be called upon again, but not for a long time. The visual impact of us walking out the door back to our lives and the new jury filing through another door to a new episode in theirs, was telling. 

During the lull, while the judge prepared to instruct the new jury panel, there occurred my third great surprise. The defendant was not returned to a holding area, under guard, to remain sequestered until the trial began. The defendant was allowed to exit the same door we used. The defendant was - free! 

Did this make sense?  Child sexual abuse, I think, should be considered a very serious charge, not one in which you want the defendant wandering the streets during the trial proceedings, not only for the obvious reasons, but how about the flight risk? I know, presumption of innocence and all that, but still.  Again, maybe I watch too much television and too many movies. OK I tell myself, they know what they’re doing, I’m just a peripheral participant here. 

Mark Twain Quote:  "To succeed in other trades, capacity must be shown; in the law, concealment of it will do."

Note:  Thank you contributing editor - you are so right.  A post that takes almost 5 minutes to read is way tooooo long, even when you're sitting in a doctor's office. As you can see, this one is short and sweet, so please read this ( and finish Part 2).  :)  Stay tuned for "A Jury of His Peers?" and "The Trial." They also promise to be short-er.