Old Joke: What do you call the doctor who was last in their class? “Doctor.” That works for lawyers, too – both of them were losers, in our minds. It was the State’s case to lose – and it did! The defense lawyer won only because the prosecutor lost.
Related: More Tales From My Just Finished Jury Duty
As you may know, this past week I got to check an item off my bucket list. I also get to change hats from being a juror to that of being Media.
Background:
In 36 years of being here in NH, I had never been called for jury duty. Have no idea why but it was what it was – until a little while ago. And in this time of WuFlu, the normal was thrown out. Instead of showing up, in court and en masse, I (and all other potential members of the jury pool) had to fill out a 60 question online survey. Two weeks later, there was a “virtual” second round of questioning which meant that last Tuesday and Wednesday, I had to sit around all day waiting for a phone call to jump on the online meeting this second round was done on a one-by-one-potential-jurist basis. From what I figured out, they made us all wait in the “virtual waiting room” while waiting our turn. When it came mine, I was asked about how I had answered two of the survey questions:
- One specifically about COVID (I had indicated that TMEW had severe asthma – my answer was that she was fine with me participating as long as I followed all the protocols.
- Another one was about type of case – and yes, I could evaluate the case fairly based on the data. Being an engineer, isn’t that what we do? What is the standard of measure (as I said before) and how does the data match up to it (or them).
And then, having passed that bit, I had to show up on Thursday for another round. It turned out to last about 3 minutes:
- Walk into the largest courtroom in Belknap Superior Court (probably 60′ X 100′ or thereabouts – should have taken some pics) escorted by a bailiff.
- Seated in a single chair across from the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, and the defendant, Andrew Legace.
Sidenote (and getting ahead of myself): At the start of the actual trial, two seats were reserved for Media. One of them was filled during the first day so I have no problem in reporting the name. Also, while the public was not in the courtroom (just the Judge, jury, lawyers, defendant, the victim, bailiffs, Clerk of the Court, IT lady, and witnesses on a one by one basis), it was live-streamed to another courtroom set up for the public. I have no idea if anyone was ever there but that meant this wasn’t a closed trial.
- The judge asked the Prosecutor if he had any questions for me: “No, your Honor. This jurist is acceptable”.
- Same to the defense lawyer: “No, your Honor. This jurist is acceptable”.
- Judge: Go out and talk to the Clerk and she will give you more instructions. Thank you for your time and willingness to serve during this time.”
And then the call came on Friday – show up on Monday at 9:30 am.
And always present: “You will NOT do any investigation into this case, either in the Press or the Internet (he was a bit unsure in naming all the social media types NOT to use – clear he doesn’t use the ‘Net much) nor will you research the Law concerning this case.
And THAT last bit turned out to be, in my mind, to be a HUGE detriment (as it turned out) as I was a “good boy” and obeyed. That was a big mistake. How do you judge a case when you don’t know what the Law is AND THE JUDGE WON’T TELL YOU?
To Be Continued…
