urbanfabric

One Day One Trial

Last week I spent an interesting three days in the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. That's right, jury duty! After a long day of two jury selection processes, I was chosen for a criminal trial at 4:59pm. We met again at 9:30 the next morning, never mind that we never entered the jury box until nearly 11am. We were an interesting group... more than a few masters degrees, a phd in biology, a retired psychiatrist who did some work in prisons (we made him foreman in a matter of seconds). Generally, an over-educated jury... mostly due to the fact that many in the jury pool admitted that they believed that a police officer would never lie and jeopardize their job. None of them made it to the actual jury. All of the witnesses were law enforcement... two beat cops, a CSU cop, and a detective.



To make a long, two-day trial short, the defendant was guilty on three charges having to do with gun possession. And, as no criminal trial is without life lessons, here are the ones I picked up on:

1. If you are a cop who shot the defendant because you say he had a gun, but no one else was there, AND, you've also discharged your weapon three additional times in a year and a half... wear your uniform to court. Don't show up in a silk-screened button up shirt, unbuttoned to your chest with a gold chain around your neck.
2. If you are an ADA and this is your second jury trial, try not to take minutes long pauses that even make the judge stare at you and wonder where your head is. Not helping the cause.
3. If you are a defendant in a gun possession trial and you have a prior conviction for armed robbery, don't take the stand. Just don't do it. Because when you take the stand, your prior record will be told to the jury and you will be charged with an additional gun possession charge.
4. If you do decide, against everyone's best advice, to take the stand as a defendant with a prior armed robbery charge, at least make your story more credible. Seriously. You've had at least a day to hear what the other witnesses have said, so maybe you shouldn't make up additional details about the scene that can't be backed up by anyone.
5. If you live in North Philly or Northeast Philly and your girlfriend lives in Southwest Philly, and you have to take the bus a great distance to see her, and you're not sure if she's your girlfriend or your fiance, so instead you stop in Strawberry Mansion to buy drugs, she's probably not really your girlfriend or your fiance... or at the very least, she won't be there when you get out of jail. She wasn't even in the courtroom during your two-day trial.
6. If you have jury duty in Philadelphia and they ask you if you want lunch from Chili's or that other place, go with that other place. 'Cause your never going to eat lunch when the judge says you will and you'll be forced to smell your fries from the other room knowing they'll be cold and soggy by the time closing arguments finish.

posted by marthadotcom @ 12:42 PM