The last witness the prosecution called was the original rape victim, and they asked her how it had affected her. You can imagine her answer.

The defense put his mother on the stand, basically to testify that he had no prior criminal record.

That was the end of the day yesterday.

This morning, we were read a big long document, mostly about punishment options. If we wanted to recommend parole (now called community supervision), there were several conditions. We could not take into account the fact that the defendant hadn't testified on his own behalf. We could not take into account the fact that the defendant would be eligible for parole after half of his sentence, or that he might also get time off for good behavior.

Prosecutor #2 opened and asked us to sentence the guy to life.

The defense admitted that probation wasn't really appropriate in this case. He reminded us that the defendant had no prior record.

Prosecutor #1 called him a predator, a coward who preyed on the weak. She reminded us that he'd raped two women. When they searched him after arresting him, they found black shoelaces on him. Not in his shoes -- in his possession. He was apparently looking for a better way to tie people up. She asked us for life again.

Dana--do you know if the defendant was using court-appointed representation? I do wonder in what %age of cases that happens.

Yeah, definitely. The lawyer was fluent in Spanish, though he's white and very Texan.

Lunch here was leftover Chinese and very good.

How awful Dana. I know when I was doing a lot of work with Katrina survivors, a lot of them said they didn't feel safe in their new cities. They didn't have the sense of community their New Orleans neighborhoods gave them.

Timelies all!

Lunch today was my usual sandwich, Coke Zero and an apple. I just ordered Chinese for dinner, so that should be more exciting.

Stuck at work, waiting for other people to do stuff. It could be a while...

I can see a long term inside for this guy, but not life.

We went into the jury room. The first thing we agreed on, I think, was that no one had any plans to consider probation. Several people, most of the jury probably, wouldn't have minded giving him life, but there were a few people, me included, who weren't comfortable with that. We only spent maybe half an hour debating, but it was clear pretty quickly who the hard-liners were.

Personally, and I think this guy was stupid, nasty, without conscience, selfish, brutish, and a generally horrible person, I was not comfortable judging him as being completely beyond redemption. I couldn't go to that absolute. He's 23. He's also an undocumented illegal.

Convicts are eligible for parole after they've served half their sentence, or 30 years, whichever is less, so anything over 60 but less than life was sort of a wash. However, we ended up at 70, with the additional ten serving as a commentary of how awful we thought this guy was.

After we delivered the sentence, the judge came to talk to us to answer questions. The lawyers also came in after that. People had questions both about the case and just general questions about being a lawyer or a judge. The prosecutor asked us why 70 and not life. The morning of the trial, they'd offered him a plea bargain of 50 years, and he turned it down. He said he wasn't guilty. When the judge was delivering the sentence to him, he said he wasn't guilty.

Jesus, Dana, that whole thing sounds so awful.

When the judge was delivering the sentence to him, he said he wasn't guilty.

I guess there's just something in the mind set or the self-image that won't allow someone to admit to themselves that they are the kind of person who would do things like that.

I would have more respect--if such respect was ever deserved--for a crook or thug who stood up and said, "Yeah, I did it, I thought I'd get away with it, I'm sorry I got caught, but it looked like a good idea at the time." I get so tired of them standing up and muttering "I'm sorry", as if that means anything. But people go on and on about "He didn't apologize!"

My favorite...if that word can apply...inmate in the big house was a fellow who sidled up to me one day and said, "You know, I've never been arrested for something I didn't do."

Me: Really? What do you do?

Him: I rob banks.

Me: No kidding.

Him: Yeah. I'm working to finance the violent overthrow of the government.

Me: Howze that going?

Him: [Wry smile]

I'm not sure why it surprised me, but he was African American. I generally attribute that sort of thing to skinheads for some reason.