Once again, I was called to do a civic duty. Since I lived here, it’s the 3rd time I’ve been called. Could people stop committing heinous crimes, please? I always get assigned to those cases and I don’t have the stomach for it.
God bless the people who do, but I am not one of them. Seriously, my boss suggested I move to a less urban county like Placer. I jokingly said that maybe I should move to Bozeman, Montana.
Sitting in the hallway of the court, I watched other people who were already picked to be on a jury walk out of a courtroom or department as Sacramento County calls it. I would speculate as to the nature of the trial by trying to read their facial expressions and body language. None of them looked happy. I couldn’t tell if it was exasperation or disgust.
I heard the lady on the PA say that 400 people were called in today for 6 different trials. No wonder people come up fast in the rotation. That seems like a large chunk of the population, but honestly, the last time I was called up I think there were twice as many jurors called. It felt like half of Sacramento County was sitting in the mezzanine of the court house.
The last two cases I got called in for were murder cases. Today’s case was worse. This guy was accused of molesting & raping 5 members of his family. There was no way I’d be able to sit through the testimony of children without breaking down emotionally. The thought of someone harming children…no. I can’t handle that thought. I want to do those adults harm. I had a minor emotional breakdown when I had to sit in the jury box for 60 seconds. I honestly told the judge that I was very biased and couldn’t fairly listen to the evidence. Of course the fact that I was shaking and my voice was breaking helped betray my honesty. For a good 20 minutes after I was still trying to recover.
What I don’t understand is why this story isn’t in the Sacramento Bee. I searched for the defendant’s name and nothing came up. This is a pretty awful story, something newspapers usually report. The first crime apparently began in 1998 and continued until the guy was arrested.
Although, I do complain that there is too much awful news in the news, I am curious why this story never made it in the papers, as they say.