Work stuff

It is so nice being back in the courtroom. I've been doing a jury trial (Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding, and Driving on a Revoked License) for the last two days and, even though we lost (and rightly so!), I was having a good time. I had one of the misdemeanor assistants work on the case with me so she could get some jury experience. I let her pick one jury panel, and do the opening statement. She did a good job, too.

We had the strangest jury pool, though. Started out with two of the jurors knowing the main police officer, one as a social friend, and the other because "he comes out to house a lot about my kid". Then one of them raises her hand, and says she knows my client. How? He's her ex-brother-in-law. What are the odds of that?

Then we start the voir dire, and about a half-dozen folks had family members who were a) homicide victims, or, b) charged with homicide! One guy is on probation in the courtroom where we were trying the case, and someone else had a mobster brother-in-law. Our alternate practically spit tacks when asked about her experience with police (the prosecutors wanted to excuse her but they'd used up their challenges). It was a truly weird group, which is probably why they were out twice as long as anyone expected.

This was my first jury trial with the judge that took over our call in December. He was fine. Don't know how he'll be on a longer or more serious case, but it's a good start. He's actually just back after surgery (detached retina), and we were a bit concerned about whether he'd be able to stand the pace right away, but he's doing okay.

On the downside, I broke the tea mug I use at work. It's one of my favorites, a Metropolitan Opera mug with a drawing by Edward Gorey. Fortunately, it was the handle that broke, into three relatively large pieces, so I think I can glue it back together with Household Goop™ - good stuff!

Work stuff

It is so nice being back in the courtroom. I've been doing a jury trial (Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding, and Driving on a Revoked License) for the last two days and, even though we lost (and rightly so!), I was having a good time. I had one of the misdemeanor assistants work on the case with me so she could get some jury experience. I let her pick one jury panel, and do the opening statement. She did a good job, too.

We had the strangest jury pool, though. Started out with two of the jurors knowing the main police officer, one as a social friend, and the other because "he comes out to house a lot about my kid". Then one of them raises her hand, and says she knows my client. How? He's her ex-brother-in-law. What are the odds of that?

Then we start the voir dire, and about a half-dozen folks had family members who were a) homicide victims, or, b) charged with homicide! One guy is on probation in the courtroom where we were trying the case, and someone else had a mobster brother-in-law. Our alternate practically spit tacks when asked about her experience with police (the prosecutors wanted to excuse her but they'd used up their challenges). It was a truly weird group, which is probably why they were out twice as long as anyone expected.

This was my first jury trial with the judge that took over our call in December. He was fine. Don't know how he'll be on a longer or more serious case, but it's a good start. He's actually just back after surgery (detached retina), and we were a bit concerned about whether he'd be able to stand the pace right away, but he's doing okay.

On the downside, I broke the tea mug I use at work. It's one of my favorites, a Metropolitan Opera mug with a drawing by Edward Gorey. Fortunately, it was the handle that broke, into three relatively large pieces, so I think I can glue it back together with Household Goop™ - good stuff!