[James]

LOL, so some guy got his life ruined for basically havng an argument with his SO that many of us could probably have had . . .Poor chap.

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
There will probably be some 'leaks' of information about the case that the press will pick up on as the case gets ready for trial. Nothing that will jeopardize the trial or inject reasonable doubt on a potential jury pool.

I once had the distinct honor and pleasure to be called to serve on a jury in California in 1997 -- NOT! (Though it beat having to pull 12-18 hour work shifts getting the network cabling job at UC Santa Cruz.) Expected to kinda sail through the one week on the pool or get selected for a jury and get knocked off during the peremptory challenges before the trial actually started. That wasn't going to be.

I was assigned to a minor criminal case. The defendant (a California Department of Corrections guard at Folsom) was accused of making terroristic threats to his ex-girlfriend (charge 1). Cops arrived and he resisted arrest according to the police officers at the scene (charge 2) on the way to the station they inspect his gym bag and find a syringe with a suspicious substance, further testing finds that it's an anabolic steroid -- possession of a controlled substance (charge 3).

After two weeks of interminable boredom in the jury box listening to both sides making their case, the closing arguments were read, the jury read its instructions by the judge and sequestered in another room in the courthouse. Yes, yours truly got the thankless job of jury foreman, trying to keep 11 of my peers in line as we argued -- sometimes heatedly -- over the charges in the trial. we deliberated for a little more than five hours before we reached our decisions.

On count 1 (making terroristic threats), we had a hung jury -- the evidence presented just walked that fine line between guilty or not guilty. Count 2 was a throwaway; the arresting officers were intimidated at the defendant's size (he was a bodybuilder in his off duty time), when he hesitated ever so slightly, they claimed he resisted arrest.

Count 3 was what sunk the defendant. We didn't buy the defense's story that he was holding a needle for the defendant's mother's dog who required steroid shots and that the steroid could be procured over the counter at the feed store. (It's supposed to be for animals, not humans!). Guilty.

I don't know whether the defendant was retried on count 1, but a conviction on count 3 effectively ended his career as a prison guard or service in any future law enforcement career.

And what did I get for my trouble? $5 a day plus mileage to and from my home -- I lived in the South Natomas section of Sacramento, so it was about three miles each way to the courthouse. And I wasn't getting paid in my regular job, though there were days during the trial when things got done early and I could squeeze in about a half-day's work.