Reflections

What do I think happened? I think Mr. E_____ lied several times up on the stand. However, we were not going to punish him for doing that. I think Mr. E_____ most likely did purchase drugs and manage to toss the small packet (about the size of a stamp) out the window on the highway. However, we were not going to punish him for doing that, either -- it wasn't in the charges.

I think Inv. F_____ is a hothead who could have just hauled off and punched a suspect without provocation. I think he should prepare his incident reports truthfully and not try to make out that he was the big hero.

I think that when the prosecutor went over elements of the case with his witnesses, he should have had a map of the area and gone over it with his witnesses so they don't do something stupid like, oh, locate a housing project a block over or the onramp to a major highway on the wrong side of the highway.

All in all, it was an interesting way to spend a week. It was nice to be able to come home around 4:30 instead of 6:30. It was nice going in around 8 instead of 7:15. It totally sucked that I couldn't surf the web while we were on breaks or whatnot. It also wasn't cool that I have about five things that were mailed to me, just sitting there at work (two DVDs, a Playstation game, something for my Dreamcast, and my birthday present! see the link below). It was nerve-wreaking realizing that I've to decide a man's fate for the next up to five years (my guess for what the Aggravated Assault charge would net Mr. E_____; I don't know what penalty that is in New Jersey). It was satisfying that I had done Something Important; I had done my civic duty. It was also nice meeting the other jurors. Yep, an interesting week.

Now to see how many messages are on my office's voicemail...

-Faux "just made $35" Pas