Criminal Justice – Page 7

Order in the Court: Part IV—Jury and Verdict

A week ago, Thursday, the closing arguments of the trial began. The prosecution went first with a 50 minute PowerPoint presentation that covered the charges and how the evidence fit the charges. This was followed by the defense attorney recasting the testimony of the witnesses in such a way to benefit his client (think James Carville defending Bill Clinton). The defense attorney did a masterful job of misdirection and obfuscation. The prosecution then got a small rebuttal.

Then, just over three weeks after jury selection began, the trial went to the jury. Due to the trial running so long and some jurors having conflicts, the jury agreed to meet the following Monday to begin deliberations. The three day weekend gave me and presumably the others some time to reflect on our responsibility as a jury and the evidence. (In my opinion, had the jury started deliberations immediately after the defense’s closing argument’s it would have taken much more time for them to arrive at a verdict due to the level of doubt introduced.)

Monday morning finally arrived. The jury gathered and entered the deliberation room. We talked for a while and waited for the stenographer to arrive. We wanted to rehear the testimony of the two main witnesses. One man in particular was the crown jewel of the prosecution’s case. He was the man offered the bribe. He was the type guy that took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and in his mind, his DD214 did not absolve him of the responsibility. He identified the shooter at the scene of the crime while waiting for medical aid. Both attorneys stated that this witness was reliable and correct in his testimony, at least up to the point of the actual shooting and then–per the defense–he was mistaken.

This is where I can get into the charges; however, I’m doing this from memory so I won’t be citing charter and verse for each accusation. All together there were five counts.

The big charge was attempted murder of Bender Bob. Alternately, the jury could look at a lesser charge of attempted manslaughter.
assault with a semi-automatic firearm causing great bodily injury to Bender Bob–shot in neck.
assault with a semi-automatic firearm causing great bodily injury to the security guard–shot in hand.
a felon in possession of a gun.
witness tampering.

Several of the charges had additional factors associated with them. For example on the assault charges, if Carlos was guilty then we had to consider: Did the assault cause severe injury to the victim? And did Carlos use a semi-automatic weapon? The felon in possession of a weapon charge required that Carlos possess the weapon or control it when fired. The law does not say he had to own it, basically if he was touching it when it fired then he was guilty of violating this statue.

Bender Bob started the altercation. On this point both prosecution and defense council agreed. Did Bob draw the gun too? Bob testified that he hit Carlos because he saw Carlos drawing the weapon; however, Bob was so drunk his version might be the product of his imagination. Could Carlos’ defense testimony be true? Much of any reasonable doubt the jury might have stemmed from the answer to this issue. This was the main purpose of the read back of the witness testimony.

The question that much of the case hinged on was where did the gun come from? A shell casing was recovered at the scene but no weapon was recovered during the course of the investigation. Three choices were postulated in the trial about the gun:

The defendant, Carlos–the prosecution claimed that he brought and used the gun but Carlos claimed he didn’t and furthermore, he never had the gun or control of it
Bender Bob–the guy who got shot in the neck, Carlos’ defense testimony was that the gun was Bob’s but nobody asked Bob during the trial about ownership of the gun.
The girlfriend, who’s purse kept being brought-up by the defense with no follow-thru (she was never asked to testify).

The purse was a red herring that explained nothing about the gun so nobody gave it much thought; especially after the defendant, Carlos, took the stand and blamed Bob for being the owner. Thus did defendant Carlos bring gun and shoot Bob as the prosecution alleged or did the victim, Bob, bring the gun and shoot himself during struggle? Did the defendant have possession of the gun at any point? If so he was guilty of count four.

Oh, while waiting for the stenographer, the jury voted guilty on count five related to intimidation of a witness. There was no debate on this point since both attorneys has stipulated that Carlos wrote the letter and arranged the phone call making the offer. Carlos agreeing to all this under oath sealed his fate on that count.

Should some enterprising criminal ever read this post, please understand that promising good things should a witness change his testimony also has the implied threat that bad things will happen if you don’t, whether the threat is explicit or not. The fact that the witness called the lead detective as soon as the call terminated and ditched his cell phone number for a new one is further proof he took it as a threat.

The testimony read back took two and a half hours but the intrepid stenographer made it thru the evidence that we needed to hear to get back on track. After a few minutes of discussion, we agreed to break for lunch.

Deliberations resumed at 1:30 PM.

It was clear that the jury would not agree to the attempted murder charge. This statute required premeditation and there was no consensus that the shooting in this case was premeditated. I could argue that bringing a gun to a night club is a premeditated act but that Bender Bob was shot seemed the opposite of premeditation.

The attempted manslaughter charge was more achievable but a few jurors wanted to examine whether the shooting as described by Carlos was self-defense. Two different reasons can get you to attempted manslaughter, one of which is imperfect self-defense. For many jurors, the question of guilt hinged on whether bringing out a gun and firing it at a fistfight was excessive force for this situation.

The presence of security and other options available to Carlos were discussed. Carlos’ assertion that Bob shot himself was just too incredible to believe. Had Carlos claimed that Bob had the gun but Carlos grabbed it and tried to scare Bob and it accidently discharged, Carlos might have been acquitted. Carlos’ version was clearly some jailhouse lawyering that was concocted to get him off all the charges.

It was clear that Carlos lied about all the following:

Being checked by security as he entered the building–security guards testified that VIP’s were exempted from thorough scanning and often enter the building with no check at all
Carlos said when he was hit so hard that a tooth was chipped but that he never took a step backwards but stood his ground, this was contrary to the other witnesses and common sense
Bob glaring down at him from the balcony after the shooting (discussed below)
Talking to the head of security after the shooting–head of security never spoke with Carlos
Never trying to tamper with witness testimony–Carlos maintained there was no threat explicit or implied in his offer

Before I go on, let’s talk about Bob and the balcony. In order for this to be true the following things had to have happened in less than ten seconds.

Bob gets shot in the neck with a .45
Bob and the security guard fall backwards and land on a table, breaking it into several pieces. (They fell in the opposite direction from the exit.)
Bob would then have to scramble to his feet and scoop up the gun at the scene of the shooting
Bob would then have to run to the balcony and already be there so that he could be seen glaring at Carlos as he got to the landing halfway down the stairs
Police found no blood between the scene of the shooting and the front of the dance floor where balcony is located
Bob was drunk as a skunk and highly impaired, and barely mobile

Other threads that cast doubt on Carlos’ version of the story are that he never called the girl he brought to the club or arranged to get her home; instead, he just ran away. He never called the police or offered to make a statement against Bob. The only time Bob was accused of having the gun was by Carlos in open court, you’d think even if the cops didn’t investigate this that Carlos’ lawyer would use the possibility to create reasonable doubt when Bob was on the witness stand. Fleeing to Las Vegas and the Vegas jail call to his wife about “going away for a long time for attempted murder” doesn’t help either. As a whole, Carlos’ behavior is hardly that of an innocent person. As a convicted felony, only Carlos had any reason to lie about the events of the shooting.

After reading the law given to the jury as part of our written instructions, we ruled out self-defense and voted guilty of attempted manslaughter.

Having concluded that Carlos is the only person that witnesses saw holding the gun and firing it at Bob and the fact that Carlos was full of B.S. with his version of the story that Bob shot himself, finding him guilty of assault and possessing a weapon was a simple matter. By a few minutes after 3 PM, we had five verdicts.

As slow as court proceedings had been going, we figured it would take until the following day to gather all the folks to have the jury verdicts read in court. Wrong! As it turned out, the prosecuting attorney was in courthouse on another case, the defendant was downstairs in the cooler, and his lawyer was just down the street. The defense attorney was the last of the three to arrive. I could tell by the look on his face that he already knew the verdicts. One of the other jurors commented that he looks glum. I responded that is because he already knew the verdict. I said we decided too fast to find his client innocent, he knows it. About the time we were let into the courtroom, Carlos’ parents had arrived—at least I saw him mom and sister before going into the courtroom.

When the verdict on the first charge was read, “on the count of attempted murder, not guilty”, you could sense some hope coming from Carlos but then his world shattered. “On the lesser count of attempted manslaughter, guilty” and every other guilty verdict that was read, he let out an audible gasp. The jury also found Carlos guilty of all the modifiers associated with the charges. I didn’t look but it seemed that he was being restrained from making further outbursts. His family began sobbing after the first guilty verdict was pronounced.

I felt sorry for the family that had been in the courtroom every day of the trial but I was convinced that their son was guilty. The prosecution made a fairly solid case. Carlos’ story did not fit the facts of the case. His testimony hurt his cause; especially when he attempted to explain that Bob shot himself. Bob was about 6’ 2’ and close to 280 lbs. while Carlos was about 5’ 6” and 165 lbs.

The defense attorney then tried the final Hail Mary play in the book and polled each juror for their vote on each of the five verdicts. After 60 votes, it was over. The judge thanked us for our service and dismissed us.

Subsequent to the trial I have wondered if I did the right thing and after many days of contemplation, I think given the evidence, that Carlos is guilty. As to his sentence, that is up to the judge and will be decided another day.

Order in the Court: Part III–Defense Argument

Once the prosecution rested, the defense was able to present their case, I’m surprised that they did. I thought the attorney would close, simply arguing that the prosecution didn’t prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and thus we must acquit. However his client–Carlos–had other plans. In the end two people were called to the stand.

The first defense witness was the policeman that was first on the scene to interact with Bob, the man shot in the neck. He had described the gunshot to the neck as “a graze”. That was the entirety of his testimony.

We then took a break and returned to find the defendant on the witness stand. The only person more shocked than me was probably the defense attorney. If I was him, the last guy I would want under oath was my client but there he was in the flesh. The defendant, Carlos, then told his version of the fateful night. His testimony went something like this:

Carlos was on a date at a local restaurant with a lady friend of his. She left her car at the restaurant and he drove her to the nightclub. They arrived at the night club about midnight. Since Carlos was a VIP at the club, after a short wait, he was given a parking place in the front of the club. He and said lady then entered the club, underwent a security check, and were given his usual booth in the back of the club. He danced a few times and had a few glasses of Hennessey and Coke.

About 1:40 AM, the sound went off and the lights came up and people were encouraged to head for the exit. As a VIP, Carlos was offered an opportunity to exit via an alternative route but the lady had to pee so they headed towards the bathrooms locate near the main exit. They were in the back of the group being funneled to the exit area.

As they passed a large black man—Bender Bob, the two men bumped shoulders. Bob didn’t like it and gave Carlos a hard shoulder check. The two men exchanged words. Carlos said that the black man (Bob) said he was going to steal Carlos’ Rolex and then threatened to kill both he and his lady friend. Carlos testified that he told Bob to calm down. In response, Bob hit him full-on in the mouth with his right hand. Carlos said that the blow was so hard that he chipped one of his teeth. Despite the strength of the punch, Carlos said that he stood his ground and was not knocked backwards.

Simultaneously, Bob drew a gun; presumably with his left hand. Carlos said that he reached-up with his right hand and grabbed Bob’s hand with the gun. Carlos said that he was able to twist the gun toting hand of Bob around to the point that the black man (Bob) shot himself in the left side of his own neck. Carlos said that he never touched the trigger or had control of the weapon. After a single shot, the gun then fell to the floor. Carlos did not grab the gun but fled. As he was making his way down the stairs, he looked up towards the dance floor where the shooting had happened only to see Bob glaring at him from the top of the balcony. Carlos said he then exited the building. On his way out, Carlos testified that he told the head of security about the shooting upstairs (omitting his involvement) and then fled the scene.

Folks there are a few facts in the above account of Carlos’ defense that should stand out as odd comments for me to include. They stood out as peculiar to me too until we finally got to see the charges as the case was given to the jury. More to say when I discuss jury deliberation and the verdict in my next installment.

There is an old saying, “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client”. I would suggest that a man who ignores him council’s advice and takes the stand to perjure himself is just as foolish.

Why was defendant Carlos telling this version of events? What he said didn’t agree with the facts presented by witnesses that had already testified and everyone in the courthouse knew it. Additionally by taking the stand, the prosecuting attorney gets free and unfettered access to the accused under oath to shred Carlos’ story under cross-examination.

Cross-examination

The first thing the prosecution attorney did was go thru the letter written from jail that was intended to get a witness to change his testimony in exchange for defendant Carlos’ written thanks and ten thousand dollars in cash. (Considering that the accused claimed to be wearing a Rolex on the fateful night, this seemed like a paltry sum to me.) Carlos admitted to writing both the letter of instructions and the letter intended to be given to the witness from his jail cell. The letter contained the witness’ personal cell phone number, and information about his wife and children including their names. (Remember he got all this info after he was put in jail.) Carlos asserted that there was no threat in the letter since he promised only good things to the security guard should he change his testimony.

The prosecution was also able to introduce more information about the Carlos’ fight (flight as in fleeing not as in an aircraft) to Las Vegas. Upon being arrested in Vegas a week after the shooting, Carlos called his wife (not the person with him at club) and told her that he would be going away for a long time for attempted murder. (Admission against interest on recorded jail phone call is not too bright.)

Carlos could not say who screened him for weapons at the club the night of the shooting but maintained that it happened. He also said that the girlfriend’s purse was not checked by club security. His story was as outlined previously; namely, the gun was the black guy’s (Bender Bob’s) and he—the defendant—never had possession of the weapon and yes the black guy shot himself. When confronted with the fact that the head of security stated that Carlos never spoke with him following the shooting, his story began leaking badly. Carlos never explained what happened to his lady friend that he left stranded at the club. Since it was after 2 AM, maybe The Chief decided she was cute enough to offer her a ride to his teepee.

Carlos’ testimony was at odds with that of other witnesses; especially the confrontation with Bob. The defense never offered any witnesses to cast doubt on the prosecution’s version of what happened or to agree with Carlos’ version of the story. In the end, it was three witnesses of varying degrees of believability or the defendant Carlos’ version that we were expected to believe. Both could not be simultaneously true in many key respects.

To be continued…

Order in the Court: Part II–Prosecution Argument

Above Sam Waterston from NBC’s Law and Order, best known as a tough prosecution attorney

The prosecution case, as simply as I can state it was similar to what follows:

Bender Bob and his Bro decide to paint the town on a Thursday night. They start with a bottle of Hennessey, I don’t really know what that is, but I know its high octane.

They get to the club and Bob is drunk as a skunk and acting somewhat belligerent. He continues drinking and at closing time, the lights come up and Bob knows it’s time to go; however, he forgets where he left his cell phone. He turns around to head back to where he was sitting to search for his phone and bumps into Carlos. The two men exchange insults.

The confrontation escalated. A nearby security guard sees Bob hit Carlos in the face so he springs into action and grabs Bob from behind to restrain him. Carlos is knocked back from the strength of the punch but remains on his feet. Just as the security guard is grabbing Bob, Carlos pulls a Glock .45 and shoots Bob. The bullet goes thru the guard’s hand and into Bob’s neck. Bob falls backwards onto the security guard and both men hit a table that shatters under their combined weight. Think of it as a sloppy Quigley shot. Meanwhile, Carlos flees the scene.

Bob exits the night club via an auxiliary exit, wraps a shirt around the bullet wound in his neck and calls his mother to say goodbye thinking that he will bleed to death.

Carlos flees Sacramento and is arrested about a week later in Las Vegas. He is extradited to California and has been cooling his jets in the Sacramento County Jail.

Carlos had lots of time to ponder his situation before the trial. As the old saying goes, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Well, old Carlos decided he needed to make this trial go away. After six months in the county jail, he called in a few markers and had a friend make an offer that the injured security guard couldn’t refuse. Yeah, Godfather Junior tried to get the key witness to recant his story or at least the part where Carlos was identified as the shooter. Carlos offered $10K in cash to the guard in exchange for “telling the truth about what happened”.

Carlos’ friend called the security guard on the guard’s personal cell phone. Thanks to the wonder of Bluetooth technology, the guard’s wife and small children heard the offer as the family was driving home after a supply run to the local Target. The call was described by the guard as “positive”. He was promised that good things financially and otherwise would happen if he changed his story. The caller also let the guard know that they knew the names and ages of his children and that the children too might benefit if the charges were ultimately dropped against Carlos.

The guard made the lead detective in the case aware of this attempted tampering with the case and the cell phone number used was traced to Carlos. As a result, Carlos is facing even more charges.

To be continued…

Order in the Court

I just spent about four weeks on jury duty and I need to decompress, debrief, vent, or whatever you want to call it. I plan to write a few posts covering different aspects of the experience. First, I would like to write about the process itself.

The group that I was in reported for duty on a Tuesday. We checked in with a secretary of some sort in the jury room about 8 AM. Each prospective juror is handed a questionnaire to complete. Prospective jurors are asked if they have ever been the victim of a crime, called as a witness, or know someone convicted of a crime. About 8:30, a judge entered the room and gave us a speech about the importance of jury duty and thanked us for coming. In the past, this speech was an old VHS recording dubbed onto a DVD but this time the judge was in the flesh with a microphone in hand. That was different.

A few minutes later, we were called by name not group number—yet another change from my previous times on jury duty—and sent to a courtroom on another floor of the building. After we made our way up the stairs and gathered in front of the courtroom door, a Sacramento County sheriff deputy opened the door and began calling names. The first names called were directed to the jury box. I was the third name called. Just like that I found myself in the jury box starting the day as juror number three.

The folks that are in the jury box plus some others, are then subjected to a series of questions. Based on your answers, you may find yourself excused from jury duty. Other folks were given the opportunity to be excused based on their work and the length of the trial which was estimated to run three weeks. Still others were booted from this case if they had medical trailing or specialized trailing in firearms. The questionnaire completed in the jury room is the starting point for questions along with things specific to the case. The prosecution, defense, and judge each get a copy of the questionnaires. Many people were excused from jury duty in my group. I figured that I was old, white, and male so I was sure to get the boot eventually. Amazingly, that didn’t happen. Some older folks than me did get the boot and so did all the black folks in the jury pool.

We were told to return for more on the second day because jury selection was not completed. The elimination process continued until the lawyers quit booting people. All of the sudden, about halfway thru the second morning there was agreement between the prosecution and defense. All the folks in the spectator part of the courtroom were dismissed and fifteen of us—twelve jurors and three alternates—were being sworn-in as the jury.

After a short break, the trial began.

The prosecuting attorney is given the first move in making the opening remarks of the trial. “We will prove the following…” Then the lawyer tells their case in outline form against the accused. In our trial this took about 15 minutes. Then the defense attorney had his turn and took about three minutes. He said my client did it in self-defense and sat down. Please note that you are not given a detailed explanation of the charges against the accused at the beginning. The charges were mentioned once at the beginning and not again until the trial was concluded.

A jury trial is not like you see it on television or the movies. The biggest factors in the trial are the judge and the lawyers. The judge runs the overall thing but the real work is that of the lawyers. The trial is only as good as the questions that the lawyers ask each witness. The judge will occasionally ask a question of a witness but the jury cannot.

The jury is given a tablet and pen to take notes. These notes are not allowed to leave the courtroom until the jury deliberates that case, then they can be taken to the jury room for use during deliberations. Finally the notes are destroyed.

The next thing that is very different is that the witnesses are not called in chronological order of events. Our first witness was a doctor testifying about the injuries received by the victim of a gunshot wound. Then a witness to the shooting was called. Then a ballistics guy then another witness to the crime and then lots of police. Think of court testimony as a photo that is shredded by a playful puppy and then you randomly pick up each piece that the dog did not eat to see if you can understand the whole of the picture.

Video, fingerprints, DNA, and other technical wizardry are not a big part of most trials. As in this case, it was witnesses with varying degrees of believability that were called upon to testify.

Over the course of many days the story slowly comes into focus. You get the feeling watching this unfold that trying to schedule all these witnesses is like herding cats so they can fit the timeframe of the court. Some witnesses take ten minutes and others several hours. Some are willing to testify while others clearly would rather be anywhere else than court. But again, the answers are only as good as the questions.

The prosecution has the burden to prove the case against the accused. Early in this trial, the court made a big deal about the fact that the accused was not required to testify or even offer a defense. (I will have more on this in another installed of this series.) All evidence gathered by the prosecution in the investigation is required to be disclosed to the defense.

Something else that defies life in the real world are the hours kept by the court. Trials start at 9 AM for juries but the doors of the courtroom may not open until 9:30. Lunch can begin anywhere from 11 to noon but afternoon sessions always begin (in theory) at 1:30. The day usually ends at 4 PM but can go as late as 5.

I would arrive about 7 AM each morning, eat my breakfast in the jury parking lot, and then get 5 to 6 thousand steps each morning before court began. I arrived early partially to keep somewhat to my usual working hours and partially to beat the traffic. Also, jury parking is at a premium—especially at the beginning of each week.

The closing arguments went something like this: the judge read some instructions, then the prosecution did a 50 minute PowerPoint presentation going over each charge and point of law, and then the defense council did his best to muddy-up the waters in the hopes of creating reasonable doubt. The prosecution got a short rebuttal and then the jury was off to make a decision.

In short, we took a one hour episode of Law and Order and split it into pieces over a three week period.

More on the case in the next installment.

Lies about School Shootings

Believe it or not, NPR (National Public Radio) is reporting that 2/3 of all school shootings reported during the 2015/2016 school year never happened.

This spring the U.S. Education Department reported that in the 2015-2016 school year, “nearly 240 schools … reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting.” The number is far higher than most other estimates.

But NPR reached out to every one of those schools repeatedly over the course of three months and found that more than two-thirds of these reported incidents never happened. Child Trends, a nonpartisan nonprofit research organization, assisted NPR in analyzing data from the government’s Civil Rights Data Collection.

We were able to confirm just 11 reported incidents, either directly with schools or through media reports.

In 161 cases, schools or districts attested that no incident took place or couldn’t confirm one. In at least four cases, we found, something did happen, but it didn’t meet the government’s parameters for a shooting. About a quarter of schools didn’t respond to our inquiries.

The School Shootings That Weren’t

The article goes on to report:

A separate investigation by the ACLU of Southern California also was able to confirm fewer than a dozen of the incidents in the government’s report, while 59 percent were confirmed errors.

When Liberals are honest enough to admit that “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics” it makes you wonder.

Original article from Joe Miller

The Catholic Churches Issues Are Not New, They Never Ended

By Jake the Snake

Blogger’s note:
I am disguising my identity due to my standing in a group that aids and assists the Catholic Church where I worship on Sundays due to my status as the 3rd highest ranking officer. The opinions in this blog represent one man’s experience and opinions, not those of the Blog Father or his other contributors. Additionally, some graphic nature of this blog may be disturbing to some of our readers, I apologize in advance.

When I was a young lad, I was brought into the church the old-fashioned way, I was forced to attend. While I was usually allowed to look at a picture book or sit and read the bulletin, I was a weekly attendee at every Sunday service. Mom insured that I was always dressed up as if I was going to the Oscar’s immediately afterward. Upon receiving the final blessing and going forth after the procession leaving church I was always told to say hello to the priest (or father) as they call them in the Catholic Church. I always complied and was very impressed with our priest. As a young lad I found it more interesting that this person said Mass every weekend, and always seemed to wear a different robe, and when he spoke everyone listened. Fr. Barry Brunswick always captivated the audience. The highlight of my Sunday as a 5-8-year-old was Fr. Barry saying make sure you go to the social hall and grab a donut; good boys get donuts for free.

Church for me as a young lad was like golf, many attended but few understood. I certainly didn’t, except for the whole “your sins are forgiven go forth” at the end of each Mass. I thought this was like a get out of jail free card, I was happy going to church each Sunday. Fr. Barry was eventually moved, the Catholic Church does this every 6 years or so, and as a result we found a new church to attend as we moved as well. I found out this past week a reason we moved was the priest incoming was transferred from Florida and had child molestation in his background.

As I grew I attended High School at Jesuit High in Carmichael, here in Sacramento County. I loved my time there, even more so I really grew to like my art teacher my freshman year Brother Charles Onorato. I couldn’t draw a stick figure very well, but Brother Onorato challenged me, and I grew better for it. Then everything changed, news of some Catholic Priests abusing young boys came out. I still remember our Pope saying it was a couple rogue priests and the problem was isolated, I believed it. Then one day Brother Onorato was not at class. We were told by the Dean of Students Karl “Hiel” Hanff he was removed due to accusations of him abusing young boys. I was devastated, like anyone would be. I figured Onorato was the least likely to be accused. As of this writing I am unsure if anything happened to him, and if anything did I don’t want to know, it would break my heart.

Brother Charles Onorato, whatever caused his removal at Jesuit High School, is still a Jesuit in good standing

Hundreds of priests were accused, rounded up, and shipped out, much like the Salem Witch Trials. I thought this was only a few rogue priests Mr. Pope? I questioned my own faith, these same people preaching from the pulpit about morality, and telling me not to lie….lied. They did not practice what they preached. I thought very long and hard about switching faiths, the Catholic Church was no longer for me.

Over time, the tragedy quieted down, and faded from the news, I didn’t leave the church, in fact I mistakenly became more involved. I rose through the ranks after just a few years and became the number 5 in command, I was required to attend a meeting put on by members of Supreme from Connecticut. At this meeting we were told EVERY MEMBER of our group would be required to do online training and get fingerprinted at our own expense and have the results turned over to the local church office to remain a member in good standing. Keep in mind the church office staff are not priests and would have access to anyone’s criminal record check. Several members asked why it was our group being singled out and not the actual priests who had a history of crimes in their past? We were told that issue is in the past and we could have members with child molestation in our ranks. So, we all had to pay for background checks, with our own money by the way. To this day I have not heard of a single member being thrown out due to any criminal past. Just as an addition, the Sacramento Diocese stretches from Sacramento County over to Nevada and all the way north to Oregon, one of the largest by land mass in the Catholic Church. The church is divided up into sub groups called diocese, run by the bishop.

The issue largely went silent and many, myself included were under the impression that the church had cleaned house and a new day was here. We were proven wrong. A bombshell report out of Pennsylvania alleges that over 70 years 300 catholic priests in 6 out of the 8 dioceses sexually abused over 1,000 victims. Even more disturbing is in that same grand jury investigation, priests and bishops urged victims not to report the abuse, and law enforcement not to investigate it. I guess the collar has a separate set of rules from the masses that attend church. Perhaps even more disturbing, the cover up was ordered by the archbishop of Pennsylvania, this person is akin to being Governor of a state, the top law enforcement officer. This report came out on the heels of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington DC resigning after reports surfaced he abused young priests, seminarians, and minors. Seminarians are those who are studying to become priests, apparently McCarrick didn’t discriminate age wise. The cardinals vote to pick the Pope by the way, you can see how powerful they are. Some of those named in this report not only avoided prosecution but they were promoted in the ranks. One of those bishops named is now the archbishop of the Washington DC diocese. One priest named, abused 5 sisters in the same family, including one when she was 18 months old. Luckily for most named in the report the statute of limitations has run out, so they will avoid any penance for their sins. This just in, the diocese has appealed to the 3rd Circuit to keep the names in the report sealed, so much for that whole transparency thing promised 15 years ago.

Now some excerpts from the report…again, these are very disturbing in nature:

“It catalogs horrific instances of abuse: a priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out; another victim tied up and whipped with leather straps by a priest; and another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a young girl and arranging for her to have an abortion.”

Abortion is a sin that the Catholic Church prays for an end to each week by the way.

“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability,” the grand jury wrote. “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”

The grand jury said that while some accused priests were removed from ministry, the church officials who protected them remained in office or even got promotions. One bishop named in the report as vouching for an abusive priest was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, now the archbishop of Washington. “Until that changes, we think it is too early to close the book on the Catholic Church sex scandal,” the jury wrote.

Here is a good one, on relocation…….brought to us by Cardinal Wuerl named above:

Father Paone was relocated successively to Los Angeles, San Diego and Reno in the following years, with Pittsburgh’s bishops attesting to his fitness as a priest. Among those bishops was Cardinal Wuerl, now the archbishop of Washington. He accepted Father Paone’s resignation from ministry in good standing in 2003, allowing him to collect his pension.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, an architect of sexual abuse cover-up

Wuerl even nominated himself for sainthood prior to this report coming out, check this out:

Cardinal Wuerl released a letter to his priests on Monday, saying that while the grand jury report would be “critical of some of my actions, I believe the report also confirms that I acted with diligence, with concern for the survivors and to prevent future acts of abuse.”

This quote from a person who attempted to commit suicide due to abuse by a priest:

“From her hospital bed, she asked for one thing,” the grand jury wrote in the report, “that we finish our work and tell the world what really happened.”

Some victims were plied with alcohol and groped or molested, the report says. Others were orally, vaginally or anally raped, according to the grand jurors.

“But all of them were brushed aside, in every part of the state, by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institution above all.”

Among the more egregious cases, the grand jury reports that:

• In the Greensburg diocese, a priest impregnated a 17-year-old, forged a pastor’s signature on a marriage certificate and divorced the girl months later. According to the grand jury, the priest was allowed to stay in ministry by finding a “benevolent bishop.”

• Another priest in Greensburg groomed middle-school students for sex, according to the grand jury, by telling them that Mary had to “bite off the cord” and “lick” Jesus clean after the Nativity.

• In Harrisburg, a priest abused five sisters from the same family and collected samples of their urine, pubic hair and menstrual blood.

• Also in Harrisburg, a priest raped a 7-year-old girl who was in the hospital after her tonsils were removed, according to the report.

• In Pittsburgh, church officials said that a 15-year-old boy “pursued” and “literally seduced” a priest. A church report later acknowledged that the priest had admitted to “sado-masochistic” activities with several boys.

• In the Allentown diocese, a priest admitted sexually molesting a boy and pleaded for help, according to documents, but was left in ministry for several more years.

• Also in Allentown, a priest who had abused several boys, according to the grand jury, was given a recommendation to work at Disney World.

• In Scranton, a priest who later served prison time for abusing children was found to have been HIV-positive for years.

Tuesday’s news conference began with a short video of three victims who told how they were abused and how it changed their lives.

An 83-Year-Old Man Said He Couldn’t Show Any Affection To His Wife And Children As A Result Of The Abuse he suffered. A woman said the abuse started when she was 18 months old. Another man said, “When you have the priest touching you every day, that’s a hard memory to have. The first erection that you have is at the hands of a priest.”

Church officials followed a “playbook for concealing the truth,” the grand jury said, minimizing the abuse by using words like “inappropriate contact” instead of “rape”; assigning priests untrained in sexual abuse cases to investigate their colleagues; and not informing the community of the real reasons behind removing an accused priest.

“Tell his parishioners that he is on ‘sick leave,’ or suffering from ‘nervous exhaustion.’ Or say nothing at all,” the report said.

He said that the cover-up by senior church officials “stretched in some cases all the way up to the Vatican.”

In summary, it’s once again crisis time at the Catholic Church, and once again they proved they never learned from the past. Churches in Canada and the Midwest are closing at alarming rates, and no one seems to care. A weak-kneed email was sent to all members of the group I belong to saying anyone who has abused someone should be removed from public service……I guess the church feels priests are akin to a government worker. Removed from public service, like teachers who get put in a room and continue to accrue service time and when the time comes enjoy full retirement? The Blog Father and I agree on this; they should be defrocked and removed from the clergy permanently in shame. The cardinals elected a Pope who is nothing more than a weak-kneed social justice warrior who cares more about America accepting more immigrants than policing his own. He would rather look the other way and hope the issue blows over as opposed to taking a stand and saying there will be a worldwide review at every level of the church and no one is safe. However, he won’t do this, because sadly Catholicism has essentially become a multi-level marketing scheme, they care more about bringing in new members than retention or finding true believers. Try it for yourself, put a few dollars in the basket when it comes around and regardless of your views on marriage, abortion, or the death penalty they will accept you. Nebraska and Illinois have pending investigations and Australia apparently has a huge investigation into this…..buckle up folks this is going to get very ugly. Let priests get married you will find a better pool from which to pull from and these issues likely will not be as prevalent…..in the mean time I may be searching for a faith that actually practices what it preaches. I am embarrassed and upset about my own faith. They are led by weak kneed, spineless people who literally turned a blind eye to abuse of children, innocent young children.

Jake the Snake

Disclaimer: any resemblance to this author and some other guy named Jake is purely coincidental; furthermore, Jake is not related to the snake in the account of Adam and Eve.

Further Reading
Pennsylvania grand jury report exposes decades of clerical sex abuse and Church cover-up

Diocese drops Cardinal Wuerl’s name from high school after sex abuse report

Copy of Grand Jury Report 27.5 MB
Complete Grand Jury Report

Crime Pays What?

Doubtless you are familiar with the phrase “Crime doesn’t pay” but actually is does; just not much unless you are in elected office.

I came across the latest wage schedule of what prisoners earn per hour when working inside the prison system. When compared to what Apple pays people to make iPhones, these guys are really doing well.

Depending on which report you believe, Apple pays somewhere between five to thirty dollars in manufacturing costs to assemble each phone. The hourly wage is estimated to be about $1.78. The guy in China making $1.78 per hour is probably having to support a wife and their government permitted one child plus all his household expenses.

Fake Justice

Lest you thought Fake News was your only concern, how about Fake Justice?

Like every other institution in our society, the courts tend to replace “justice” with “process”. Thus if you “get process” or “go thru the system” then it is assumed that you have arrived at a just outcome. Clearly this is not always the case. We have a colorful history in our country of judicial nullification that has occasionally happened when juries ignore stupid laws and rule that the law itself is unjust.

Grand Juries are convened as a way to bring an indictment against an individual. This is another path that law enforcement can use when perhaps a district attorney is not sure if the evidence warrants pressing charges. Grand Juries also have special investigative rights and can even publish findings of wrong doing.

On the other hand, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that “a good lawyer can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich”.

Today I read about a grand jury that handed down 900 indictments in one day. They took an average of 39 seconds per indictment.

Not a single case was no billed in June — meaning all 904 cases went forward against the accused.

The average time per indictment was 39 seconds in June, meaning there is no way that grand jurors could have properly considered each case, the lawyers said.

Grand jury averaged 39 seconds per case; York County lawyers want 900 indictments tossed

I agree that that doesn’t pass the Tom Sullivan “smell test”. I think it takes more than 39 seconds to order a ham sandwich at your local Subway. How can enough evidence even be heard to decide if a person can be charged with a crime?

Imagine how these proceedings were conducted.

Bob is charged with being ugly in public.

Here is his photo.

Ok, let’s vote.

All in favor say “Aye.”

Next case.

Urban “Oscar” Meyer Strikes Again!

Editor’s note: The Chief is an avid sports fan but when the sports page turns into the crime blotter, The Chief goes on the warpath. Buckle-up because today’s story has more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel. As you will see, many folks deserve to be scalped for their participation and subsequent cover-up.

If you are unaware, Urban Meyer is the head football coach at The Ohio State University, and by default the highest paid government worker in the state! Well suffice it to say the last 24 hours have been nothing short of disaster for both University and the Meyer family.

Zach Smith—the former wide receivers coach at the university and a friend and confidant of Meyer since his early coaching days at University of Florida—was terminated back on July 24th after a judge issued a protective order not allowing Smith to come within 500 feet of his ex-wife. Smith has also been charged with criminal trespassing in May of this year; again with his ex-wife being involved. Gotta respect a man for being persistent…never take no for an answer cuz!

Wife beater and general scumbag Zack Smith

The filing of the protective order followed an incident in May in which Smith was charged with criminal trespass after driving his car into his ex-wife’s driveway during a custody exchange of their 13-year-old son.

URL Urban Meyer explains Zach Smith firing, knew about 2009 allegations

Back in 2009 while both were at the State run latrine called University of Florida at Gainesville, Smith was investigated for a dispute, again with his now ex-wife.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday he was aware of domestic abuse allegations against former receivers coach Zach Smith in 2009, when Smith was a graduate assistant on Meyer’s staff at Florida.

URL Urban Meyer explains Zach Smith firing, knew about 2009 allegations

Fast forward to 2015 and Smith was actually arrested on domestic violence charges in Powell, Ohio.

Meyer being the literal wiener he is, did nothing. Or did he?

Interestingly enough, when reached for comment this past Tuesday, Powell Ohio Police Department said they had no arrest records for Smith, however later in the day they walked it back saying they had found the arrest records and 2 additional visits to the Smith residence by the department.

The Chief needs clarification, so they “found” these records later? Is this like the Democrat party finding millions of uncounted votes long after the election? Did Ol’ Oscar Meyer call in a favor with the local P.D.? Arrest records are usually given out on demand. Most may doubt The Chief here but these college football coaches; especially Meyer who has won 3 National Championships, carry ungodly amounts of clout. More on that later.

Meyer said it was “a very tough call” to fire his longtime assistant. Sounds like it.

Meyer fired Smith on Monday after a report from Brett McMurphy revealed details of an incident in 2009 in Florida in which Smith was arrested for shoving his then-pregnant wife against a wall during an altercation.

URL Urban Meyer explains Zach Smith firing, knew about 2009 allegations

This dude (Coach Smith) made more contact with the opposite sex than John Edwards did in the last nine years and it was a “tough call” to fire him. Coach Smith, as you will see, is a hands-on sort of guy.

Here are more disturbing developments about Smith. “…police responding to a call in 2015 at the Smith residence were told by Smith’s wife,’a domestic incident happened last night at her home and that she has been a victim of sustained physical abuse by the suspect.’ ”

URL Urban Meyer knew of 2009 abuse allegations involving fired Ohio State assistant Zach Smith

Two weeks later, the second visit was “menace by stalking.” Strangely enough neither of the two above incidents led to Smith’s firing. Instead, Smith was let go due to the 2009 claim…being brought forward again earlier this year. This finally resulted in a charge from the 2009 incident bringing down this low life bum.

Coach Meyer—when reached for comment by ESPN (More on this later)—said his support staff had no information regarding these allegations. Hmmm strange how that happens. Ask anyone, get into a minor arrest if you work at a school and the HR department usually finds out rather quickly. But I digress. When you win football games and bring in big $$$ for said school, interesting how things get swept under the rug.

Here is where things take yet another turn. Back in 2009, Meyer’s wife—who was friends with Smith’s wife—actually got involved with his arrest. She consulted with Urban, and Urban said he made the decision simply going to counseling was enough.

May I add that in 2009, Smith brought home a different woman—who happened to be a co-worker—back to his house intending carnal relations with her with said wife present, sounds like a winner. I am aware of a movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I guess Smith was going for the record of 10 minutes or less.

An argument ensued…that’s to be expected, I don’t think many women take kindly to said husband sleeping with another women in your bed unless your last name is Clinton, Kennedy, or Edwards. Then Mr. Smith put his hands on his wife and hit her, heck yeah boss, hitting women is such an alpha move! Hopefully you taught that broad a lesson, I mean if you want to be in an open relationship go for it. Nothing says manliness like beating up a pregnant woman, I mean they’re almost as strong as men!

Here is just how much the firing of Smith affected the football team this upcoming season “It was a devastating loss for us, it’s not something you expect, especially at a time like this, when you’re only a week out [from the start of training camp],” Buckeyes wideout Parris Campbell said. “But I think the main focus and the main goal is to lean on one another. We need one another in a moment like this. It’s a huge loss, but we’ll move forward.”

URL Parris Campbell on Zach Smith firing: ‘It was devastating’

Yeah, I love to harken back to simpler times when Ray Rice beat the living crap out of his wife on camera and was only suspended a couple games. Was this termination necessary? I need answers? Who will coach wide receivers this year? Oh My God? How will we win the Heisman Trophy now?

Well this blogger doesn’t know if Smith will be wide in jail, but he will be a receiver! From what I hear, hitting women sounds like it is frowned upon in our penal institutions!

Oh, I mentioned things taking a turn earlier for Coach Meyers. Smith’s wife—in an interview with Brett McMurphy, who was fired by ESPN last year—said every coach on Meyer’s staff knew of the abuse she went through in 2015. Smith was not fired for anything that happened in 2015, with Coach Meyer denying any knowledge of these charges. Meyer’s reaction was basically, “Beats me”.

Maybe Coach Meyer and his wife are not on speaking terms but here is yet another revelation in this sordid tale, Meyer’s wife is a registered nurse and a professor in the nursing department at Ohio State. Due to the nature of Shelley Meyer’s job, she is a mandatory reporter under Title 9. (Sorry The Chief doesn’t do roman numerals, the Romans are gone.) This puts both Meyers in big predicaments. Did Shelley tell her superiors? Did she tell her husband? Did Oscar Meyer crush these reports, because this could get his wife terminated?

Here is another good one. A reporter in Columbus, Ohio, home to the Ohio State University, did a freedom of information act request on Smith’s personnel records three weeks ago, he has been stonewalled by the University.

Here are another couple of pure gold quotes by Smith’s former wife “All the [coaches’] wives knew,” Smith told McMurphy. “They all did. Every single one.” Well that’s ok right, because no chance Urban Meyer could have known right? Again, let’s quote Smith’s ex-wife

“I do believe he knew and instead he chose to help the abuser, enable the abuser, and believe whatever stories Zach was telling everybody,” Courtney said.
Courtney (Smith) also went into detail about the alleged beatings, which led her to eventually divorce Zach Smith in 2016 and file a domestic violence civil protection order against him on July 20. The filing of that document, and the revelation of the years of abuse, led to Zach’s immediate firing from the program last week.

URL ‘He chose to help the abuser’: Axed Ohio State football coach’s ex-wife says she believes head coach Urban Meyer knew she was being beaten — and did nothing

Whoa, boom that sounds like a flame grilled wiener!

College football coaches, especially the really good ones such as Meyer wield great influence over people. As mentioned earlier, not one to let that power go to waste, Meyer not only knew what Smith had done, he sent in his goons after Mrs. Smith in 2009. Hiram DeFries, who is the special assistant to the head coach at Ohio State and has been a confidant of Urban Meyer for years, told her in 2009 not to pursue charges against Zach Smith after the incident in Florida. Meyer was the Florida Gators’ head coach at the time; Smith was an intern on his staff. Hiram DeFries sounds like a typical wannabe mob goon, but like Smith, is just a low life scum. Not to go unnoticed is this gem DeFries unleashed as well. “[DeFries] said, ‘If you don’t drop the charges, Zach will never coach again,’” Smith told McMurphy. “‘He’s never hit you before. He was drinking. He’ll probably never do it again. You should think about giving him a second chance.’” Yes history says men who hit women won’t do it again, give him a second chance.

Hiram DeFries makes Courtney Smith an offer she can’t refuse

Here’s yet another bombshell dropped today, “She did not press charges in 2009. Zach Smith was investigated in 2015 for suspicion of felony domestic violence after an incident that resulted in unspecified injuries and showed evidence of sustained abuse. In the Powell, Ohio, police report regarding that incident, Courtney Smith said she had been a victim of habitual domestic abuse. Cleveland.com on Wednesday identified nine reports from Powell police involving domestic disputes between the couple from 2012 to 2018.” Habitual domestic violence, as in like more than one time. Again Oscar Meyer denied he knew any of this.

Luckily, Smith—who makes more than $500k a year of taxpayer money—was able to hire a lawyer to fight these charges. Listen to his attorney comment on these charges. Bradley Koffel, an attorney representing Zach Smith, told ESPN: “Zach Smith wants to be as transparent and honest as possible but it is not going to be done today through the media. It will only be after he and his ex-wife are sworn in to testify. Once he gets his chance to tell his side of events, don’t be surprised when it is corroborated by every police who ever responded to Ms. Smith’s calls.” Well thank goodness he will be transparent down the line, that’s what I need in these turbulent times. Let me guess it was a simple game of patty cake gone wrong, or better yet your wife launched her head into your fist. Koffel sounds like someone who has the IQ of a piece of meat, meaning you leave him out to long he spoils.

This tale is not over yet, here is something really sick. Smith was fired July 24th, on the 25th of July, Meyer was at the Big 10 Conference media days and claimed he had no idea of any of Smith’s 2015 arrest records. So why did you suddenly fire Smith for something that happened almost a decade ago you low life?
Here is why, Urban Meyer is a coward. Similar to a politician (or a chameleon), while at Florida he found a gem in future Pope Timothy Tebow and claimed to hold a saintly moniker, claiming he read the Bible daily and no one was holier than him. Excuse me while I go barf.

Ok I’m, back.

Let’s take a long look at some of the outstanding athletes to pass through Gainesville and Columbus under the tutelage of St. Meyer.

The University of Florida
Aaron Hernandez – murdered at least 1 person, likely as high as 3, never suspended
Janoris Jenkins – finally kicked out of Florida after 5 failed drug tests (Meyer had left) Jenkins had an A+ quote “If Coach Meyer were still coaching, I’d still be playing for the Gators,” he was quoted as saying. “Coach Meyer knows what it takes to win.” Sounds like Meyer was quite the disciplinarian. By the way just recently Jenkins brother was arrested for “allegedly” killed a man, and hiding the body in Janoris house in New York. Hmmmmmmm
Chris Rainey – Felony aggravated stalking, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again?
Riley Cooper – resisting arrest, and failure to comply with fire department orders, what the hell do fire fighters know anyways?
Cam Newton – Felony burglary, larceny, obstruction of justice. Not a banker, bank robber!
Matt Elam – DUI
Carlos Dunlap – DUI
Frankie Hammond – DUI
Jamar Hornsby – felony criminal mischief
Jermaine Cunningham – misdemeanor battery, he threw cups at a Jimmy Johns employee. When a man wants his roast beef hot!
Tony Joiner – Felony theft, I guess he was pulling an OJ Simpson
Ronnie Wilson – assault and battery, also use of a concealed weapon. Applying to be a US Marshall?
We will just stop here, there are at least 30 more during his short tenure at Florida.

Now at Ohio State:
Adolphus Washington – soliciting a prostitute that happened to be a cop. As the chief has mentioned, if it has teeth it’s a cop……..face smash
Gareon Conley – rape, got off, I guess in more ways than one
Kirk Barton – former player arrested for hitting bar patrons, likely putting Smiths training to use
JT Barrett – Dui – he wasn’t as think as you drunk he was

Likely there were scores more, but Meyer wielded his influence and got the charges dropped. Meyer has a very interesting history, he got to Florida, won a couple championships, St. Tebow went pro, and then he suddenly had a heart attack the following year. He took a few years off, working for ESPN, only to take the Ohio State job once it came open 2 years later. Now after winning a championship, I think it’s time for a visit to the cardiologist, because it doesn’t look good.
Meyer was suspended today (with pay) until the investigation is over. I think Meyer better find another gig soon, it doesn’t look good.
As the tale is now told, back in 2009 Meyer and his wife tried to do an intervention with the Smith’s. Mrs. Smith as you recall was in a family way at the time of her spousal smackdown.

At this sad time for these hapless coaches, The Chief can only channel his inner Don Corleone and dispense this advice.

• First, Urban Meyer to act like a man!

• Second, Zack Smith if you didn’t want a child with said wife, put a bag over your pepperoni, what’s the matter with you!

More news has come out of Columbus with assistant coach Ryan Day, (that’s actually someone’s name by the way) interim head coach, and placed Meyer on timeout while they determine how much they should pay that low life. Two coaches on staff were previously head coaches elsewhere but were not named interim coach, this is somewhat surprising until you see the backgrounds of said assistants. One was Greg Schiano, who for some reason looks very similar to Bobby from King of the Hill, this oversized ogre is best known for covering up rape at Penn State by former “ass” istant coach Jerry Sandusky, and lying under oath.

Greg Schiano feels his future slipping from his fingers

The other coach is Kevin Wilson, formerly at Indiana University whose tenure includes being fired for ignoring trainers regarding injuries and repeated run ins with the administration after being warned about his antics. Looks like these two losers will also be going down with the ship, no word on if Schiano knows which way is down.

Perhaps the University of Ohio will let these guys rest with the fishes. Look for an offer that they can’t refuse.

My final observation is one bit of odd information or the lack thereof; coaches get fired annually—it’s kind of a rite of passage. Every time a coach gets fired, even if it’s something really egregious, former co-workers or players come out and say he was a great guy, coach, mentor etc. Nothing but radio silence so far on Mr. Smith. Let that sink in. Additionally The Chief tells Mr. Smith to assume the position. I’m sure this won’t hurt a bit.

Burn in the opposite of heaven you wife beater!

For further reading

URL Protection Order Filed Against Zach Smith

URL Brett McMurphy #2 July 23 @ 2:54 PM

URL Brett McMurphy #1 July 23 @ 5:05 AM

URL Courtney Smith On Abuse Allegations And What Urban Meyer Knew

Johnnie Does Jury Duty

By Johnnie Does…

Our “Johnnie does” segment depicts real life blogging of a correspondent wishing to maintain anonymity. He was given permission by the Blog Father to chronicle his exploits as long as content doesn’t turn into Johnnie Does Debbie or any female (or male) named herein; what follows is his account of jury duty.

I was called to “service” aka Jury Duty this past week. On Tuesday my group had to report, so I fired up the ole vehicle and made the trek to the Gordon Schraber Courthouse in Sacramento. (If you wish to avoid your own legal entanglements with parking enforcement, arriving early is essential.) I made my way to the juror parking lot, found a space, parked the car, and walked to the Courthouse.

As I approached the Courthouse steps, I was curious what sort of people that I might encounter during my visit. I kind of knew that the shifty and suspicious characters here to answer for their crimes entered the courthouse via a separate entrance; however, I was hoping to encounter attorneys or witnesses. I wondered whether they might try to influence their case by making me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’ve been known to be susceptible to the whiles of beautiful women in trouble or huge wads of cash but I found no one seeking to tip the scales of justice. Alone and somewhat disappointed, I entered the courthouse.

Gordon Schraber Courthouse in Sacramento

Upon entering, those of us reporting for our civic duty were herded like cattle through metal detectors at the security checkpoint. As I was about to enter, the guy in front of me made the machine beep. He then proceeded to take out his phone, it beeped again, then removed his belt; beeped again, then his spare change….(For a minute here I thought perhaps the “Chief Blogger” was in front of me.) Again the machine beeped, and the man said “oh my wallet”; finally, the machine didn’t beep anymore and he was admitted. Clearly this guy thought he was exempt from the signs instructing people to remove all said crap listed above from their pockets and place in a tray so it could be run separately thru the x-ray machine. In contrast, I passed right through and made my way to the jury room.

I check in with the clerk at the window and was told to wait and enjoy a movie that would start playing shortly. I was hoping the movie would be accompanied by a snack and complimentary beverage but sadly this was not the case. After seeing the prices marked on the nearby vending machines, I was hoping the person that came up with the prices would be on trial today for theft.

At around 9:30, they put on an old Sandra Bullock film (is it my age or aren’t all of her films old). Anyway, I had seen enough. I was ready to make an offer to the older lady sitting next to me….$50 to stay here and check me out at day’s end; I couldn’t take it anymore! Shortly thereafter I looked at my watch, I was convinced a few hours had passed and it had to be close to lunch time…it was 9:35.

About the time my sanity was threatening to leave me, a voice interrupted the movie. The announcement was made that they needed a jury and they began called names. I was one of the first ones called so I proceeded to Department 23 as instructed. (Each courtroom is called a department and has its own number.) I was lucky to be moving out of the accursed waiting room. It was time for the real entertainment to begin. I could now sit back and watch a few people get thrown off the jury and once they had a jury picked then I could be excused and sent home. My master plan was in motion!

Upon my arrival at the appointed room; however, reality saw to it that I had no such luck. I was called to sit in the jury box in seat 11, pretty much font and center! The judge read off a couple of preliminary items, saying because the defendant was black didn’t mean he was guilty, etc., etc. We were then asked if we knew any of the other jurors, the judge or defense or prosecutors, I answered, “No”. We took a 30 minute break at 10:30 with instructions to be back at 11; in what became a recurring theme during my time served, 11 turned into 11:30.

The judge very slowly and methodically began asking various canned questions to each of us on the panel. These questions included inquiring as to whether we had a family member convicted of a crime? A few of us raised our hands and the judge called on us individually. I had to state what happened with a family member, to which the judge asked if I knew any of the officers being called as witnesses. I responded, “No”. He then asked if I could put aside any bias I may have for a couple days I answered, “Yes”. He asked a few more follow ups to the panel, then excused us for 2 hours for lunch. I asked myself, 2 hours for lunch, can this be a professional gig?

We returned at 2:00 and waited. We were not called back into the court room until 2:20. From here the two attorneys took over, and I was again under attack. I was asked if someone was pulled over going 66 in a 65 zone if that was considered breaking the law, I replied, “Yes”. The female defense attorney had a follow up saying she was deeply disturbed by my answer to which I replied, saying posted speed limits should be adhered to at all times but occasionally circumstances warrant someone’s speed to fluctuate over and under the speed limit. She went as far as saying she had no witness list and solely planned to rebut everything the prosecutor brought up during trial. She finished up and the prosecutor took over, asking another juror some follow ups. To my amazement, the defense attorney then trained her fire on me once again asking what my thoughts were on being pulled over for only going a mile over, I answered than I believed it was the officer’s discretion. At this point I figured the defendant had been pulled over for something fairly ticky-tack then attacked and assaulted the three police officers at the scene, one being a women. At roughly 3 pm the judge said someone had to be somewhere in 30 minutes and we were going to stop here for the day. No one had been thrown off, and just a few questions so far had been asked of the prospective jurors. Our day was over, but our “service” was not; we were required to report back tomorrow at 9 am.

I reported back the following day and waited outside the court room doors. The other jurors began showing up and we waited until around 10:30 when the doors opened. Everyone took their respective seats and the judge began to address the group. He said he will take the blame for today’s goings on but we could not proceed because the defense attorney was sick. As a result, we had to return the following day at 1:30. He said he had a delta tunnels hearing in the AM. Frustration began to set in with the jury pool. One young lady said her boss was forcing her to take off work while attending jury duty, another works night shifts and is essentially unable to sleep during this charade. You could tell on the way out of the courthouse there was unrest brewing among the natives.

I returned yet again the following afternoon and boarded the elevator, the defense attorney got on next to me. I asked if she felt better and she said yes. I said well I’m sure it was no big deal you were absent yesterday. As we approached the courtroom I boasted to the fellow jurors “hey she isn’t sick anymore, she’s here!” To which she turned red as a tomato from all the clapping from us jurors. I think at this point she came to the realization that most prospective jurors while leaning toward being more than fair had turned on her and her client. As a group, we were sick of the delays and non-stop hurry up and wait mentality.

At 2:30 they called us into the courtroom again, and the judge said there was a resolution, the accused had pled guilty. The judge addressed us for about 30 minutes saying he was glad for our service and that we shouldn’t view this as a waste of time at all. He talked about the new courthouse being built soon at the cost of 400 million and how this building was deficient and so on so forth. He said something about us getting paid, I’ll believe that when I see it. We had to go back to the jury room and get a sheet of paper saying we served 3 days, presumably to give to our employer so they wouldn’t have an excuse to fire us. Then we could go.

My commentary:
This was the ugly underbelly of our justice system, which frankly I believe is rotten to its core. There were many people in that court room whose life was inconvenienced over 3 days in the name of this defendant. One lady drove all the way from Isleton for this, that’s more drive time than court room time for all you home gamers. More frustrating was that we as jurors were the ones constantly in flux. It’s somewhat stressful finding parking, then you had to factor in getting to the right floor, then wait for the court to open. Additionally there was no phone call saying no jury was needed since the defense attorney was sick.

However I would be remiss if I didn’t say this was a very good learning experience. At first I was flummoxed the judge didn’t seem to allow anyone’s excuse to stand. He had a very calm demeanor and usually asked you a question where your answer meant you shouldn’t be excluded. It wasn’t until after the jury duty was over I understood what was going on.

The judge was basically telling the attorneys this is going to be your only pool by which to pick from so of the 40 or so in this room try to find 18. (The jury is composed of twelve jurors plus some alternates.) I think he knew several of us were bound to get thrown off and as a result wanted both attorneys to use their 10 “challenges” as opposed to him throwing people off. Additionally I believe that before the jurors were set to be readmitted to court, the judge told both parties I think we can have resolution now, then boom, a plea deal was reached. I cannot definitely say justice was done because I was not there the day of the arrest for the crime, but I do think the defendant, by holding out until the last possible second, got the best deal possible.

Honestly the case was going to be nearly insurmountable for the defense to win, regardless of whether the initial traffic stop was legal. The biggest hurdle to overcome was that the defendant was accused of assaulting 3 badges (police officers)—one being a female. I say insurmountable because as a male, it would be very hard to acquit or even attempt to hang the jury when a male hits a female. Hopefully he got a fair deal, as I’m sure jail time was on the table. However if it would have gone to trial, I would be remiss to say I wouldn’t have wanted to be a fly on the wall hearing the defense attorney argue a case with no witnesses, videos, or her client taking the stand.

Now on to the judge, Kevin Culhane. I thought initially he was long winded, slow and deliberate, and at one point seemed as if he was intentionally wasting time.

To the contrary, Judge Culhane is a very distinguished civil court trial judge who has presided over a ton of civil suits. In retrospect, it makes sense that he was very deliberate, and tried to make the prospective jurors feel at ease even though some of us were talking about some very uncomfortable things either in ours or our families’ past. He always made it clear what the next steps were and apologized profusely for the defense attorney being sick and inconveniencing us. He spoke to us at length prior to dismissing us, and told us he was appointed by the governor to address the 6 year backlog of criminal cases at the court, and to put together a strategic plan to get a new court house built. He accomplished both of these, the new courthouse will be shovel ready in a couple months! All in all not a bad experience at all.

Johnnie Does San Francisco is next!