Jury Duty Day 2

Sorry about the spacing issues on the blog! I'm not typing it that way, but it is posting that way. Jury Duty Day 2 4/12 There was a shocking discovery with the first witness today, this a gang related shooting.The judge and the attorney's never mentioned that during jury selection. Not that it makes a difference, but it added a whole other dimension to the case and testimony. Now not only are we struggling to keep track of the three cars involved, the 10 people involved and in which car they were in, but now there are "street" names to keep track of and gang affiliation as well. What was already a complicated case became much more so. Understanding the street terms the witnesses were using was challenging at times and keeping track of lies vs truth, because they kept contradicting their own testimony and each other. We heard from two witnesses, both gang members and both involved in the shooting before lunch. Their testimony left me seriously worried about our ability as a jury to come to any logical conclusions at all. Apparently the prosecutor felt the same way, because about an hour after we came back from lunch we learned that the prosecutor offered a plea and the defendant accepted it. Turns out that the second witness testified totally the opposite of what the prosecution was expecting, and totally built the case for the defense in his testimony. The prosecutor did not feel like we would rule in his favor, so opted to offer a plea. The nuts and bolts of the case, car #1 with 4 guys in it shot at car #2 with the defendant in it. The defendant had stolen a chain from one of the guys in car #1. There was also car #3 that was used as the spotter car to let car #1 know where car #2 was so they could shoot at it. Well after car #1 shoots it drives off and now car #2 and #3 end up crossing paths. The defendant in car #2 shoots at car #3 and kills the driver. There were two stipulations that we were instructed to accept as truth in this case: -1 The defendant did shoot and kill the driver of car #3 -2 The defendant was illegally in possession of a firearm The prosecution was saying it was murder, the defense was saying it was self defense based on the fact that the main shooter in car #1 had been harassing the defendant all week and threatening to kill his family, and car #1 had opened fire on the defendant. After the plea was agreed to both attorney's spoke with us and let us know that there had already been 4 trials charging and convicting the 4 shooters in car #1. The main shooter from car #1 had testified in all 4 trails, even his own, with the same story. So when he showed up in court today, with a totally different story it threw the prosecution for a loop. Both attorneys are speculating that the main shooter from car #1, who is going to prison for a very long time, changed his story to protect some key gang members so that they don't come after him on the inside. It scared me to hear about this "alternate" existence that takes place just under the surface of "normal" life. The Friendly Duck and the 54th Street Bar are not far from a bar a group of us went to not that long ago, and until today I had zero idea that this area of town was gang central. Of course I know there is gang activity, but it was still unsettling to be reminded of just how close it is to our every day existence. I will never understand the mentality that goes along with gang life, and the violent way they think. The whole shooting started over a chain, a stupid gold chain that someone took and the person they took it from wanted it back. The attorneys told us we had a look at gang life today that most non-members don't get to see, and honestly it scared the shit out of me. At the same time when the prosecutor shared the story of one of the witnesses it made me feel bad that he was raised in the situation he was...some children really don't stand a chance. It doesn't make what they do ok, but at least I can sort of understand how they end up in a gang, with people they mistaken for family that cares about them. This whole experience has been eye opening on so many levels. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to serve on a jury and see the justice system in action. I had a lot of misconceptions as to how it works. I learned there are a lot of grey areas and very few things are clear cut. I still don’t know how to reconcile fact, which is what the prosecution wants you to consider, with human emotion and understanding, which is what the defense is counting on. I’m still very torn as to what conclusion I would have come to...thankfully that decision was taken out of my hands.