My Jury Duty experience.......

Okay, I was released from jury duty at noon today, June 10, 2010. What an experience!

First of all, I was on a panel of 65 people and I was number 52. Usually, they may go past juror 25 to pick the 12 needed but rarely, so I was sitting back there minding my own business and thinking, "Boy, do I have it made!" I kept my mouth shut and avoided any glances from the judge so as not to bring attention to myself. I started to get worried when the judge asked if any of us knew anyone who used drugs and over half the panel raised their hand. The next thing I know, they've selected the jury and my number plus #53 was called.

We find out it was a man who allegedly was arrested after a police officer noticed him as he committed two traffic violations at 1 am and looked up his license plates only to find they were expired. The police officer was part of a unit called, The Anti-Crime Group that patrolled high risk neighborhoods and was always on the lookout for anything or anyone suspicious. He put on his lights and motioned for the guy to pull over. The guy didn't right away but continued to "a place under a street light" and yelled to the cop that he left his driver's license at his house and could he follow him there to get them. Of course, the cop said "No" and walked up to the car. The guy obviously wasn't going to co-operate so the officer, who was alone, asked him to get out of the car. To make a long story short, the guy had a colt 45 on him and marijuana and cocaine was found in his car after 10+ cops had responded to the lone officer's plea over the radio for Assist 1. Allegedly, the guy tried to reach for his gun and thus was charged with another felony.

Now, 9 months later, this has gone to trial and the perpetrator pleaded not guilty to possession of drugs with intent to deliver and possession of a lethal weapon with intent to cause bodily harm.

At the trial, they made a big "to-do" about the fact that the guy's wife/significant other owned the car and other people drove it besides the guy. How could it be proved that the drugs belonged to "the guy"?
The lady involved had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. The guy pleaded total innocence to everything and acted like an angel on the stand. He also said the cops hit him with a flashlight and broke out his teeth, but the guy refused medical help when the ambulance was called.

The guy was of a minority race (not that that mattered) but it took us 24 hours to convince the one minority juror on our panel that the cocaine in the car was his beyond a reasonable doubt, anyone besides him would not have left their valuable drugs in the car, the guy say he was on the way to a particular club that is known to have drug dealers hanging around outside, this was at 1 am and the club closed at 2 pm, the guy had no money on him to pay the entrance fee to the club, we were shown a picture of the guy taken within 24 hours of the incident and there was no sign of bruised lips if teeth had been knocked out, why would he have refused medical care and why couldn't he find his friends to vouch for him and he did not deny he had a gun on him and did not have a permit.

We found him guilty of possession of an illegal drug and he was sentenced to incarceration for 3 years. I personally think he was on his way to sell the drugs but for a while there, I thought he was going to get off scott free! It was a eye-opener experience for me and I'm glad I had the opportunity to serve.

Moral of the story: You are responsible for what is found in your car so go clean it out, right now!!!