Man charged in killing and rape of girlfriend's 2-year-old son

San Jose Mercury ^ | 01/28/2016 | Robert Salonga

[Twinkie]

That’s why they don’t want me on the jury for a murder trial. So far, I haven’t had one; but had jury duty last
year that was just a couple days and not a murder trial.
I’m hard - but I’m fair. - The hardest part of it was
having to stay corralled for about 4 months, calling most
every night to find out IF they wanted me to come in the
next day. (I’m old, too. I thought they quit calling you
when you reached 65 yrs. of age.)

[Company Man]

Wow. You sure can pick ‘em, girl.

[onedoug]

It makes me cynical, but it has to done.

I was once on a case where a guy had sold crack to an undercover cop. It was open and shut. Yet a pushy black guy who had essentially elected himself foreman, convinced a liberal white female to nullify with him, solely, it seemed to me, because the defendant was also black.

Depressing.

I’m 65 and retired, but I can feel the next summons coming as it appears once the court realizes that, one can pretty much figure on being called every other year.

You’ve got all the time in the world.

[Twinkie]

I suppose there’s always a pushy guy in every crowd. - The
jury I finally did serve on was a car wreck where a black
woman was badly injured. She was not being fake. It was a
rear end collision where the young white guy was speeding
& just not paying attention. When he finally did see the
cars stopped in front of him, he tried to stop & laid down
rubber for a long distance before he plowed into the black
woman’s car. She had already spent a great deal of effort
in getting herself in shape; had finally begun running in
local races. This wreck had put her back to square one. She
was a passenger. She & her husband seemed to be decent
folks trying to make a living (she worked every day, but
had to miss some work to go to doctors). This “good ol’
boy” white juror wanted to show off how SMART he was and
ran his mouth continuously citing this and that “thing” he
had figured out about this woman. (The guy at fault in the
wreck was unprepared and unconcerned; the woman and her
lawyer were prepared & concerned. Another thing; the
guy at fault had his insurance adjuster there. They KNEW
he would probably have to pay! - I HUNG IN THERE for the
claimant even though the smart aleck guy argued his head
off against the woman. Well, it ended up with her getting
enough to help her be RESTORED to what she was before he
crashed into the rear end of their car. We awarded her
a pretty decent sum, though not as large an amount as they
asked for. (Funny thing was; when the good ol’ boy juror
was told that the INSURANCE ADJUSTER was in the courtroom;
he immediately backtracked and wanted to adjust the amount
UP - but it was too late. Judge told us she thought we were
right on the award amount.)