02-15-2004, 03:39 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 491
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Have you been a juror before?
This past Friday, I finished a 3-day stint as a juror in a criminal trial. Picked among 36 panelists to participate in a 6-person jury, I got to hear the State of Florida bring 5 charges against a young male who allegedly robbed a pizza deliveryman by gunpoint. The 5 counts were: 1) robbery with a firearm, 2) assault with a deadly weapon, 3) battery on a police officer, 4) resisting arrest without violence, 5) discharging a firearm in public.
The case was interesting and not as cut-and-dry as you might think. There was no physical evidence, and the State's case was constructed on the strength of the testimony by the victim himself, and on the testimony of an 18-year-old eyewitness (who is now incarcerated herself awaiting her own trial on aggravated battery charges in an incident unrelated to this trial).
I've been a juror only once before, and I offered to be the foreman for our jury because of my experience (the others had no jury experience and so they all readily agreed). As we deliberated, we wound up finding the defendant guilty on a lesser charge of attempted robbery with a firearm, not guilty on discharging a firearm in public, and guilty on the three remaining charges.
What an interesting theatric the trial was! As the prosecution and defense took turns interrogating witnesses, you could see the points both sides were trying to make, without stating those points flatly until it was time for closing arguments.
In the end, I was extremely satisfied with our varied verdicts. Unlike a prior jury I was on, this was much easier to deliberate, although it was a much more complicated and serious charge than the simple drug case I sat on some years ago.
Have you been a juror before? Was it a criminal case or a civil case? What was your experience like? What verdict did you render?
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