by Matt Barr

Verdict

I was one of the two early holdouts who eventually signed the verdict form convicting our domestic violence defendant after two hours of deliberations (which everyone seemed to think was a lot).

It -- the "system" -- worked the way it was supposed to, I think. The victim's dad is a chief deputy in the county sheriff's department, though, and there are 1,000 other, worse cases that didn't get to this point because those victims' dads aren't. I can be troubled about that without holding it against her or in mitigation of the defendant, of course. I would have moved heaven and earth to punish someone who did my little girl wrong, whatever she might have done herself (this was not a one-sided incident). If anything ever God forbid happens like this to my daughter, I'm calling this guy personally and insisting on the full effort he gave this case. I wonder if I'll be accommodated?

In the end the eight of us agreed on a very tiny portion of everything we heard as evidence, and convicted according to the letter of the law, not its spirit. But we can't enforce spirits on people, I suppose.

Don't try to avoid jury duty. It's so important.

Browse books from Amazon.com: