monogodo

Went back to court at 11am. The Defense was to present their case. We'd waited almost 2 whole days for their witness to be available. We filed into the Jury Box and the Judge told the Defense to proceed. The Defense attorney stood up and said, "The Defense rests."

Went back to court at 11am. The Defense was to present their case. We'd waited almost 2 whole days for their witness to be available. We filed into the Jury Box and the Judge told the Defense to proceed. The Defense attorney stood up and said, "The Defense rests."

I immedately thought, "What the fuck?"

Since the case is now over, I can give more details. It was an aggrivated assault case. The defendant had been accused of assaulting his step-father's business partner with a steel pipe, causing severe injury to the complainant's left arm. The defendant had come into his step-father's office, looking for him. The complainant spoke to him to find out what was up, since the receptionist felt uneasy with his presence. The defendant was discribed as being agitated and sweating profusely. He was punching buttons on the phone, and rambling about the Mexican Mafia & Major Bravo & other things that made no sense. He was asked what he wanted, and said he needed money. The complainant asked how much he needed, and when he was told $20-40, he offered to give it to the defendant himself. The defendant declined, saying he didn't want his money, he wanted it from his step-father. The complainant said he was sure the step-father would pay him back. He asked the defendant if anything else was wrong. The defendant said, "Remember what we talked about? Yeah, you talk too much." The complainant said that the previous discussion to which the defendant referred occurred 2-3 months prior, when the complainant was helping the defendants parents move (without telling the defendant where they were moving), and the defendant had expressed a desire to kill someone. At this point, the complainant told the defendant to leave. He remained calm throughout the entire exchange. The defendant got up and headed for the door. Instead of turning left to leave, he turned right and entered the production facility (the company fabricates steel rods for construction). The complainant followed him, repeatedly asking him to leave. At one point, the defendant turned to the complainant and said, "c'mere, I want to talk to you," and turned and kept walking. The complainant said he thought they were going to his office, since the defendant was heading that direction. Instead, as he got closer, the defendant picked up a 4' steel bar and swung it at the complainant. The complainant put up his left arm to deflect the blow. The defendant let go of the bar as it came around, and took off towards a group of workers. The complainant shouted to the workers to run, and threw a short steel bar at the defendant, missing him. The defendant threw one back at the complainant, and ran from the building. He ended up across the street at Taco Bell, where he ordered lunch. The police came and arrested him. The complainant went to the hospital, where it was later learned that the muscle from his lower arm had been separated from the tendons, and required major surgery to reattach. He now has only 70% use of the arm. The defendant had been in jail ever since his arrest that day (March 17, 2004).

The Prosecutor chose to go last. The defense attorney gave his closing, which pretty much centered around the weapon. In the indictment, it was listed as a steel pipe. The attorney said that he would describe the item as a bar, since a pipe is hollow, and the weapon was solid. He told us that the prosecution is required to prove every element of the indictment, and that if any element is not proven, we have to acquit. Since the weapon was a bar, and not a pipe, we must acquit.

The DA got up and reminded us that the complainant had testified that the bar could also be described as a pipe, and that they have customers referring to similar items as pipes all the time. She then summed up her case, that he recklessly endangered people, and assaulted the complainant, causing serious bodily harm.

We deliberated for about 15 minutes before finding him guilty. The only issue to come up was the pipe/bar/rod description. I said that, while I would call it a bar or rod, I can see how others would call it a pipe, and that the complainant had testified that many people call it a pipe in his line of work. Another juror said that if we were to place the bar/pipe on the ground, and ask 20 people what it was, 18 would say, "pipe." To which I replied that the other two would say, "¿que?" We found him guilty.

Then we had the penalty phase. The prosecutor called a Sheriff's deputy from the Identification Division, to testify that the defendant was the person listed in the 17 conviction forms she had. He was. Then we took a lunch break. When we came back, the defendant was in the witness stand. He rambled on about the complainants name,

• Defendant: "is it Bobby or Robert? Doesn't he know his own name?"
• Defense Attorney: "Mr. Stoddard, your step-father's partner."
• Defendant: "Now that's a third name! I have no idea who you're talking about!"

Went back to court at 11am. The Defense was to present their case. We'd waited almost 2 whole days for their witness to be available. We filed into the Jury Box and the Judge told the Defense to proceed. The Defense attorney stood up and said, "The Defense rests."
Essentially, if we found that he had no prior felony convictions, we had to sentance him to 2-20 years, and a fine from $0-$10,000. If he had one prior felony, we had to sentance him to 5 years to life, and a fine from $0-$10,000. If he had two prior felonies, we had to sentance him to 25 years to life, with no fine. We looked through the convictions. Of the 17, 4 were felonies. We then debated for an hour over the length. Most of us wanted to give him at least 50 years. A couple women only felt comfortable with a max of 30. We ended up going back and forth until we settled on 40 years (he has to serve 50% before he's eligible for parole). We then went and delivered our sentance. The judge dismissed us with the thanks of the court, and said we were free to discuss it with whomever we chose, or not discuss it, it was up to us.

In the Jury Room, the DA came in and thanked us, then told us what the delay was. The witness was actually a psychiatrist. The Defense attorney wanted to have him evaluated one last time, just to make sure he wasn't crazy. Thursday morning was the only time she was available. He chose not to use her testimony because she found him to be a sociopath. He knows right from wrong, he just chooses to do wrong. The Defense attorney also came in and thanked us. It turns out he was a court-appointed attorney, and that the defendant wouldn't have been able to afford to hire him had he not been court-appointed. So the defendant got a very competent defense. And we felt better about the sentance after hearing about his sociopathic diagnosis. We actually wished we could have put him away longer.

Sorry this is such a long post, and thanks for reading this far.

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