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                                 untitled II

Now, about that court case [1] …

Yesterday [2] I ran into one of the jurors during lunch (oh, the judge wasn't
that sadistic as to feed me only bread and water). Since the jury was removed
from the courtroom before my dressing down, he was curious as to what exactly
happened. So I told him what happened, and he told me that later on, the
judge also dressed down one of the witnesses on the stand.

I can only surmise that the judge was having a bad hair day.

I also gave him my email and phone number so that I could get some closure to
the case once it's over. This morning he called and gave that closure.

Now, since the case is over, I can talk about it. The defendant was charged
with DUI (Driving Under the Influence), with a BAL (Blood Achohol Level) of
0.12 (which does exceed the Florida legal limit of 0.08). During the trial,
it came out that he was involved in a motocycle accident (he was driving the
motocycle) and that his passenger, his wife, died in the accident. His blood
was drawn as evidence two and a half hours after the accident, and by using a
formula (I forgot the actual name, but it was something like “retrograde
determinant” or something like that) his BAL at the time of the accident was
between 0.14 and 0.17, twice the legal limit.

The testimony I heard was the State's side, and I missed the defendant's side
of the story, but the State's evidence was strong and there was no way the
alcohol in the defendant's blood could have risen after the accident.

He was found guilty.

Now, the full story (the juror researched the background after the trial—some
of the following details did not make it to the courtroom). The accident
happened on September 25^th, 2005, on the defendant's birthday. He, and a
bunch of friends had been bar hopping all day and were on their way to
another bar when an alien (and I don't remember if the alien was illegal or
not) hit the defendant, causing the accident (so it wasn't the defendant that
caused the accident). The alien had been stopped four times previously for
driving without a license. The defendant's wife died at the scene, but the
defendant wasn't told this for three days (apparently he had extensive
injuries, and in the courtroom he walked with a cane and a pronounced limp).

The juror I spoke with was upset at having to deliver a guilty verdict, but
as per instruction by the judge, he was guilty of driving under the
influence. And I really feel for the defendant.

He was only sentenced to twenty days in jail, though.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/03/20.1
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/03/21.1

Email author at [email protected]

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