The trail lasted from Wednesday to the following Tuesday. Some parts were really interesting and others were a waste of time. But sometimes the lawyers have to drag out certain parts just to make sure it gets into the records.
On Monday morning, we heard final arguments and then went into deliberation. I thought this was going to be a pretty easy decision for the 12 of us, but that was not the case. When we first voted, it came about to be 6 guilty, 5 innocent and 1 unsure.
We sat in that room for 4 hours "arguing" the verdict. I always felt he was guilty and really never thought about any other possibility. Other people on the jury had an issue saying that he was guilty when we never had any "hard" evidence. There was never a medical report taken, video tape of the interview, or
After hours of talking/debating, we came to the conclusion that he was guilty Monday late afternoon and had to come back on Tuesday to hear closing arguments on the punishments phase.
I thought Tuesday was going to be even harder for us to come to a conclusion on, but actually it wasn't. During the punishment phase, the jury learns about his other previous charges.
Not only did this guy go to jail for not paying 2 traffic tickets, but he also served 45 days for a second DWI (first one he had to pay a fine) and then he also served 21 days because he was caught with a concealed weapon in his car. Then, he was put on probation after he got out of jail, but failed to comply with the "rules" and went back to jail for several more days.
After we learned of all this information, we sentenced him to 4 years in jail.
This whole process was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I don't like the fact that I am partly responsible of "ruining" a family's life. But then again, it also feels good to know that I helped to take a criminal off the streets. It was definitely a learning experience for me. One that I hope I never have to live through again.
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