Jury Duty

I got a few requests for more elaboration on jury duty, so here goes!

The defendant was a convicted sex offender charged with failure to register as a sex offender. The prosecution was the State of Colorado represented by a young lawyer (might I add dark, and handsome as well?), who had a strong and convincing case. However, the defense had a few more facts that were a bit more persuasive.

The facts: All sex offenders are required to re-register with the state on their own birthday. The defendant had registered as usual on October 3rd 2007. A few weeks later he was evicted from his apartment. When a change of address occurs they are required to deregister and reregister within 3 days. There was no paperwork proving that the defendant had done so and was arrested and charged in February 2008.

The defense argued that he had gone in and filled out the necessary paperwork, however his caseworker was not in on the day he claimed he was there, October 17 2007. He said the receptionist set the form down on her desk and told him she would get it to the right person. The defense called the caseworker to the stand as a witness and had her read a copy of her pay schedule, and she was indeed not there on the day he said he went in. He also had his record going for him. 11 years of not failing to register once, including times he had a change of address. He also has a young child now.

The prosecution did not offer much except for the fact that there was no paperwork. We have all been the victims of paperwork slipping through the cracks at one point or another, so we gave him the benefit of a doubt. We found the defendant not guilty.

It was a very interesting process and now I have more respect for our legal system. I don't believe it is perfect in any sense and there is much wrong with it, I just have a bit more respect now :)

So there it is.