Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Jury Duty

I thought the courts had forgotten me, I have not served Jurt Duty for many years, but I'm back in the jury pool this week. Some people complain about serving jury duty, I look forward to going to court for a few days, just to break the routine of going to work everyday.

One year I served jury duty in Norwalk, and made a murder trial, it was a drive by shooting that resulted in the death of a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time. What was interesting was the information on gangs. I had no clue the spray painting on the walls actually meant something, before the trial. Like most people, I ignored the scrawlings on walls and went on my way.

To gang members, the graffitti is a type of newspaper, this is a way to communicate with one another on territory and crimes committed, and who was involved. In certain parts of Los Angeles, crews work full time covering the gangs communications, resulting in death occasionally.

The photographs of the dead young man were gruesome, his eyes were open, not like we see in the movies, closed. This was over twenty years ago, yet I still have memories of this case.

Well I do not report to the Pomona court today, but maybe tomorrow?

Eddie

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've been called to jury duty twice, once in Pomona and once in West Covina. The sad part for me is that both times I was selected for the jury only to be removed by the defense as their first pre-emptive strike. My "problem" is that I have a close relative who's a police officer and most defense lawyers seem to be of the opinion that I don't have a mind of my own. So, I take the opportunity to sit, read, think about nothing and even write a little. Just like a paid mini-vacation!