Serving on a jury
A couple of years ago I was called for jury duty in Miami, and this time it was different. Instead of watching a not so good movie, reading book, or getting hauled into a court room or two before being thanked for my "service" and being home, I was selected to serve on a jury.
I was selected to be the jury foreman. It had been a long day. Starting a case at 4:30 pm and not really knowing what to expect, we all agreed to start fresh the next day instead of possibly working well into the evening and told the judge our plans. The case was scheduled to be heard the next afternoon at 1:00 pm.
A new gas station owner had been the victim of a battery at the hands of a guy that had paid rent to the previous gas station owner to wash cars on the property. The new gas station owner wanted more rent and the two were unable to agree on a new rental agreement. Over the period of a week the tenant tried to negotiate and offered more money. The location was good and he had regular customers. The new owner of the gas station had been lead to believe that the car wash guy would pay more rent or that he could be evicted and the new owner could establish his own deal with a new car wash guy and make even more money. Negotiations broke down, the owner is pissed off and one morning goes to the area of the car wash, smashes the guys radio and knocks over the table that has the car wash guy's stuff on it. The car wash guy scores a knock down, the owner retreats to the convenience store the police are called. A report is taken, three witnesses are interviewed, the owner, the car wash guy, and a customer that was getting a car wash. Nobody was arrested at the time and while the owner complained about a bump on his head as a result of the fight, no rescue squad was called. The police read their report regarding the fight and listened to the testimony of the parties involved. The person who was getting his car washed never was called. Nobody was taken to jail or arrested at the time of the incident.
The judge said we could consider self defense in the case. The new owner of the gas station had obviously done and said some threatening stuff to the car wash guy and the car wash guy was pissed off enough to get into a fight with the new owner of the gas station.
We, the jury deliberated about 15 minutes and found the car wash guy not guilty. Evictions should not happen this way, but they probably do, it was clear to the jury and myself that the parties had gotten into a significant fight. We decided that the car wash guy should not go to jail for what he did.
Sometimes juries find people not guilty because the state's case was too weak to warrant a conviction.
I was selected to be the jury foreman. It had been a long day. Starting a case at 4:30 pm and not really knowing what to expect, we all agreed to start fresh the next day instead of possibly working well into the evening and told the judge our plans. The case was scheduled to be heard the next afternoon at 1:00 pm.
A new gas station owner had been the victim of a battery at the hands of a guy that had paid rent to the previous gas station owner to wash cars on the property. The new gas station owner wanted more rent and the two were unable to agree on a new rental agreement. Over the period of a week the tenant tried to negotiate and offered more money. The location was good and he had regular customers. The new owner of the gas station had been lead to believe that the car wash guy would pay more rent or that he could be evicted and the new owner could establish his own deal with a new car wash guy and make even more money. Negotiations broke down, the owner is pissed off and one morning goes to the area of the car wash, smashes the guys radio and knocks over the table that has the car wash guy's stuff on it. The car wash guy scores a knock down, the owner retreats to the convenience store the police are called. A report is taken, three witnesses are interviewed, the owner, the car wash guy, and a customer that was getting a car wash. Nobody was arrested at the time and while the owner complained about a bump on his head as a result of the fight, no rescue squad was called. The police read their report regarding the fight and listened to the testimony of the parties involved. The person who was getting his car washed never was called. Nobody was taken to jail or arrested at the time of the incident.
The judge said we could consider self defense in the case. The new owner of the gas station had obviously done and said some threatening stuff to the car wash guy and the car wash guy was pissed off enough to get into a fight with the new owner of the gas station.
We, the jury deliberated about 15 minutes and found the car wash guy not guilty. Evictions should not happen this way, but they probably do, it was clear to the jury and myself that the parties had gotten into a significant fight. We decided that the car wash guy should not go to jail for what he did.
Sometimes juries find people not guilty because the state's case was too weak to warrant a conviction.
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