Comfortable shoes. Check.

Nah. Wear stuff you can twist and bend in, though, so you can look in cabinets and the like.

Maybe bring a flashlight to check cabinets and corners?

OK. This is going to be long:

We are finally, finally done. Unfortunately, we were unable to come to unanimity, so it is officially a mistrial, but either way, that means I can finally talk about it! (Also that I can finally get back to normal life, thank god! Short days and short commute were all well and good for a day or two, but I feel like I've been travelling for the past two weeks, even though I've been home).

I thought this might be an interesting case, when the first day, in addition to the "do you know any of the defendants, have you been a victim of a crime, do you have relatives in law enforcement" etc regular questions, they also asked us "Are you biased against Muslims or homosexuals?". Hmmm, I think...

Apparently what I should've said is "No, not against them, for them! Can't be unbiased, better let me go!" Instead, I ended up on a jury for nearly two weeks...

The facts go a little something like this:

So. Wayyyy back in 2002, a man named Gerald was beaten and stabbed and died, in an alley in NE Washington. Police found a trail of blood leading out of the alley, and found blood in a car belonging to a guy named Harry. The blood was Gerald's, and a guy named Lamiek's. A woman who lived in a house with windows on the alley, named Fatima, identified Lamiek as being in the alley, beating Gerald. This? Was not that trial.

Lamiek and Harry were put on trial for the murder of Gerald in May 2005. On the day of jury selection, Lamiek's wife Erica ran into one of the jurors, Jovanda, in the bathroom, and realized they all (Erica, Lamiek, and the juror) knew each other from middle school. Jovanda told Erica not to worry, she'd get Lamiek off. Erica and Jovanda called each other on the phone to talk about the case, as it went on--mostly from payphones, but Erica got lazy, and it was hard for her to go to a payphone with her three kids, so she also called Jovanda from home. Big mistake. She ALSO is a moron, and talked to Lamiek (who was in prison) on recorded conversations, where although she didn't QUITE say "the juror is throwing the trial for us", it was pretty darn clear. Jury tampering is a crime. This? Is not that trial.

That jury, for the murder, was a hung jury, due to Jovanda. A new trial was scheduled for later in the summer, but the police and attorneys were as yet unaware of Jovanda's machinations, even though apparently a couple other jurors told them there was something fishy.

Meanwhile, back at the jail, Lamiek is thrilled with the hung jury, but worried abou this retrial coming up. He's bragging to people about how he got off, and isn't it so exciting. Jovanda has told him that the two main issues the jury had, and reasons they wanted to find him guilty, are the DNA evidence (that his and the victim's were found in the alley and the car) and the eyewitness, Fatima. Now, Lamiek claimed Fatima was lying. She hadn't come forward until 16 months after the murder, and there was something about how she said the police showed up right after the beating, and really they didn't show up for several hours. But she had ID'd him in a lineup.

For the DNA issue, he decided he would get his friend Javar, or possibly Javar's mom, to say that Lamiek had cut his hand earlier in the day, and been in the alley, and that's why his DNA was there (Note: nobody I talked to thinks this was actually a GOOD plan, but this was apparently Lamiek's plan). Javar and Erica come to visit Lamiek in prison. They also discuss this plan on recorded conversations from the jail. (again, note that these are not the brightest people in the world...). This? Is not that trial.

So, Lamiek is bragging all up and down the cellblock about his trial. And this guy Paul hears it. Paul is...and interesting character. He was born and raised in Jamaica. When he was 18, he moved up to the states illegally, found himself a sugar daddy, and claims to have attended Temple University under a false name (Temple says they don't have any record of him). Then he moves to DC after a few years, (continued...)

Maybe bring a flashlight to check cabinets and corners?

Oh, god. Now this is getting scary!

( continues...) but since he and the sugar daddy broke up, daddy wants the school money back. So OF COURSE what he has to do is get a job at a bank and start embezzling money. He's completely incompetent, so the Feds catch him, but he rats out his co-embezzlers, and becomes a paid informant for the FBI. For seven years, he's giving them info. Then the IRS catches him filing false tax returns (for other people--not completely clear on what he was doing, but I think he was either makign people up, or using real people without their knowledge, and filing tax returns to get the refunds). The FBI says they can't help him, and he goes to jail for a couple years. They then deport him back to Jamaica in 1999. (Please note, this man is a *complete* flamer) He immediately sneaks back into the US with falsified papers. In 2003 or 2004, he gets arrested when the house he is living in (in NE DC) is raided, and found to have a huge cache of automatic weapons. He claims those are his roommate's, and he only knew that there was a pistol in the kitchen. They also found something like ten different DC drivers licenses with Paul's picture and different names. Apparently he had a friend in the DMV. He's in jail for 14 months, awaiting trial and probable deportation. And by this point, he's also HIV+. So going back to Jamaica does not seem like a good plan.

So when Paul hears Lamiek all braggin' round the jailhouse about this juror he knew and his mistrial, Paul calls the police. Tells them about the Jovanda and Erica thing. Tells them about the DNA plan. Etc. Etc. The police start investigating. Find a lot of evidence (like the phone calls).

And at some point, after Paul has talked to the police a few times, he comes back to them and says "Wait! But there's more!". He says that he was sitting around in his cell, chatting with Lamiek and this other guy Kevin. Lamiek had just found out his new trial was postponed (due to Paul telling the police about the jury tampering thing), and knew he had to "fix two problems"--the DNA thing, and Fatima, the eyewitness. Kevin says wait, where does Fatima live? How old is she? Does she have a cousin named Angela? Kevin thinks he might know her, through this cousin. He and Lamiek chat about Fatima, and Kevin, who is supposed to get out in a month, says "I could go talk to her for you". Lamiek says "no no, you can't do that, because Harry already got in trouble for that kinda thing, obstruction of justice. Besides, she's moved to Virginia" (Note: This is not THAT trial either!). Kevin then says "Well, I can kill her, then". Lamiek says how will he find her? Kevin says he's got this lawyer Doug who knows how to find people.

This? Was the case of Obstruction of Justice, against Lamiek, for trying to get Fatima off the trial. And the case of Threats to a Witness, against Kevin for offering to kill her.

Based on Paul's testimony.

Now, the trial took four days, mostly because of all this background info that they wanted in there. (As you can see, there's a lot of background). But there were some other things they wanted in there. Like a phone call from Kevin to his son, talking about how "All hot motherfuckers gots ta die. Anyone who works for the police 'sposed to die". Phone calls from Kevin to the lawyer (three recorded, one not) that were theoretically after this conversation about how to find Fatima. Of course, the defense wanted to point out that Kevin got out of jail at the beginning of September, and the cops, though they knew about all this in July (when it supposedly happened), just let him check in with parole once a week, until they finally arrested him at the end of October.

The unfortunate (but at the same time, rather entertaining) part of the trial was Kevin's lawyer. Mister Floyd. Mister Floyd thought he was Johnny Friggin' Cochran. He grandstanded. He proclaimed. He loudly didn't understand why the judge was, no shit, sustaining the prosecution's objections before the prosecution even MADE them. (The prosecution lawyer, Ms. Carroll, would (continued...)

( continues...) seriously just look at Mr. Floyd like he was crazy, start to stand up to object, and the judge, who had his head tilted back and his eyes closed, would say "SUSTAINED" before she even fully stood up, much less said anything). Mr. Floyd seemed to think he was in some kind of circus. Or possibly a movie. He kept trying CRAZYASS tactics to make the story of Paul seem ridiculous.

For example, Mr. Floyd kept coming back to the idea that Paul, Lamiek, Kevin, and Paul's cellie Garvey were all in the cell together, according to Paul. Kept trying to prove there was NO WAY the four men could've all fit there at once! Which, please.

Then Mr Floyd tried to somehow show that Paul being a career snitch meant he was making it up. And that (gasp!) Paul was a ho-mo-SEX-ual! AND has...well, Mr. Floyd wants to be circumspect, he says--Paul is VERY SICK, isn't he? (HIV he doesn't mention, but it's clear. And then Paul's medical records are put in evidence anyway). AND he's on (gasp) PROZAC! So couldn't he just be...DELUSIONAL?!? AND, Kevin is a Muslim. In fact, he may have been functioning as the imam in the cellblock. Calling for prayer (Kevin wore a kufi every day to the trial, pointedly). Preaching to Paul about homosexuality. Didn't Paul HIT ON HIM, and get TURNED DOWN, and get mad and make this up?? PLUS, hadn't Kevin lived in Southeast his whole life? While Lamiek had lived in Northeast? Doesn't that mean they couldn't have known each other before jail? (The prosecution pointed out that Kevin did have a *car*...but them being friends before wasn't really the point, and yet Mr. Floyd kept jumping on the whole geography thing) And isn't it true that Fatima doesn't actually have a cousin named Angela??!?! (The prosecution and defense stipulated that no, Fatima does not have a cousin named Angela. But that didn't mean the conversation didn't take place, it could've just meant Kevin was wrong). Etc. Etc. And on, and on.

And so on, and so forth. Lamiek's lawyer barely even tried. He was a tiny old white man, who didn't say much, didn't ask much, and didn't present any witnesses. Of course, Mr. Floyd presented witnesses that included a woman who came in, said she'd known Kevin from the time he was 2, until he was 12, but couldn't remember his name, and couldn't say that she'd known him, y'know, recently. Um, whatever.

Closing arguments from Mr. Floyd included references to his "good friend" Johnny Cochran, and a long complicated analogy about not being able to make chicken salad out of "chicken poop".

So FINALLY, Tuesday morning, we get to start deliberating. And we all pretty much agree that guilty or not, we want to suggest that Kevin needs a new fucking lawyer. And we talk. And talk. And talk. And have an initial vote. Lamiek, we go 6-6 on. Kevin, it's 10 Not Guilty, 2 Guilty.

So we talk more. And more. And more. We come back on Wednesday. We talk some more.

Wednesday at 12:20, we tell the judge we are deadlocked. He tells us to go get lunch and come back at 2pm. We're pissed. 2pm rolls around, we wait. 2:30 he finally calls us in, and tells us to keep deliberating. We're more annoyed. We go back. Voices are raised.

And basically it comes to that most of us only vaguely trust Paul, as he's incredibly sketchy, but he did come up with good info. And Lamiek did have motive, and he sure as hell had done that kinda shit before. Did he want to KILL her, or just some how get her off the jury? Doesn't matter. Either way, obstruction. And between all the stuff, ELEVEN of us finally agreed that Lamiek was guilty. But one woman would not be swayed.

As for Kevin, there was a lot of evidence from his phone calls that he was a big braggart, who liked to joke around (one of the calls to the lawyer, he's talking to the office staff, and asks if one woman had her baby yet. When told "yes", he's all "Sweet, does it look like me?"). But there was a lot of racial politics discussed, about him telling his son not to trust the police, saying people who work (continued...)

( continues...) with the police should die, etc etc. (The jury was four black men, one black woman, and seven white women).

But in the end, NINE of us thought there was reasonable doubt that even IF Kevin said that, that he actually meant it and wasn't just joking. THREE people, though, said they thought he was guilty.

And so in the end, today at about noon, we told the judge we were still deadlocked, and he declared a mistrial and let us go. WHEW

Oh, and I got told by the one younger (black) guy on the jury that I am a "cool-ass white chick". Hey, I'll take it.

See the WashingtonPost for more info (I swear I only just now looked up this information (by only googling his first name! Not a terribly common name)--they very carefully were NOT allowed to tell us that he'd already had another murder trial and been found guilty, though most of us kinda figured that).

Had to cancel my entire trip to Cleveland, for training, and will just go to the office tomorrow.

(Um, wow, I didnt' realize that would be THAT many posts! Sorry!)

Just read that in your journal.

That is some whacked-out crazy shit right there.