Ever wonder if a mystery writer would be chosen to
sit on a jury for a murder trial? Author Michele Drier writes the Amy Hobbes
Newspaper Mysteries, a paranormal romance series, and is currently working on the first book in The
Stained Glass Chronicles, which she calls a dark cozy series. Today she joins
us to talk about her experience when summoned to jury duty. Learn more about
Michele and her books at her Amazon author page.
Murder? On a Jury? Moi?
When the
jury summons envelope showed up, I put it aside to look at later. I could have
asked to be taken out of the pool, I’m old enough to have been excluded.
I believe
in civic duty, though. Always vote, even in strictly local elections. Obey
traffic laws. So on the appointed date, I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. in order
to get to the jury assembly room before 8 a.m., coffee mug and ebook reader
handy. I figured a piece of cake. Even on the off chance my name was called, I
go to a courtroom, sit in the back, watch as a jury was chosen and then head
home, dismissed.
This was
not to be. I was in the first group called to report to a courtroom. Once
there, I was in the first eighteen people to be seated for voir dire (when the
judge and attorneys ask questions). I’d carefully written down that I was an
author of murder mysteries on my questionnaire, thinking this was a slam-dunk for
dismissal as the case was murder.
The judge
asked what my favorite book was (I’ve probably read thousands) and who my
favorite author was (before my jaw hit the floor I managed to come up with
Agatha Christie), the attorneys asked if I would wait to hear all the evidence
before I made up my mind and bang, I was juror #7.
It was a
murder case, but the defendant called the sheriff’s office and announced he’d
shot his wife, so our job was to sift through testimony and evidence and come
up with the degree; first or second degree murder or manslaughter.
The
defendant was a young man in his early 20s who’d shot his female partner and
killed her. There were no witnesses; it happened in the middle of the afternoon
in the mobile home they shared with their 3-year-old son. We saw pictures of
the scene, pictures of her dead on the bed, pictures of the gun and ammunition,
pictures of the mobile home and pictures of their cars. We heard testimony from
another man she was dating, the defendant’s closest friend, the victim’s mother
and a psychologist the defense retained to interview the defendant after he’d
been in jail for about 18 months (right before the trial).
It was
just a sad tale of domestic abuse and jealousy. One of the pieces of evidence
used by both the defense and prosecution was a Facebook message that he’d
posted on the page of his girlfriend’s other lover. “You don’t mess with
someone else’s wife.”
We heard
from forensic experts on gunshot residue, blood spatter (there wasn’t any, it
pooled on the mattress under the exit wound), stippling (gun powder marks on
her face), to judge how close he was to her and at what angle the shot was
fired. We saw autopsy pictures clearly showing the entry and exit wounds.
There were
text message conversations and cell phone records to give us a picture of what
happened the day he shot her and what he did immediately after (left in her
car, with the gun, drove around somewhat aimlessly until he called the sheriff
about 45 minutes later.)
After
about four days of testimony—broken up by a holiday, unavailable witnesses and
other court matters—almost three weeks after I’d first reported, we were given
the case and began deliberations. I was chosen the foreperson and watched each
person wrestle with the evidence and their own conscience and understanding.
The choice we had ultimately was between first and second degree murder, with
the only factor separating those two decisions being premeditation.
In
California, the jury instructions and definitions of the varying degrees of
murder and manslaughter are very clear and the definition of “premeditated”
doesn’t have any time constraints. Premeditated can be as little as a few
seconds and hinges on testimony and evidence as to the defendant’s state of
mind and preparations before pulling the trigger.
Twelve
people, six men and six women, strangers to one another, were locked in a room,
handed all the evidence and told to come up with a verdict. At the end of the
penultimate day, ten people voted for first degree and two for second degree.
When we came back the next morning, it was eleven to one. I asked each of us to
give the one piece of evidence or testimony that made them believe it was
premeditated and finally, we were unanimous on first degree. My piece was that there
was only one shot, a kill-shot to her face, that entered next to her left
nostril and exited through her brainstem, killing her instantly. He testified
he never shot the gun before.
During
this process, I was reminded, and reminded my fellow jurors, we could only use
the evidence and testimony we heard and saw. Several people were concerned
about the child, but that was beyond our purview. Some people wanted to
understand the relationship that led to the murder, but that was also beyond
our purview.
As mystery
writers, we’re free to explore the other motivations, points of view, secondary
characters surrounding the actual event, but it was a good lesson to hear
again—rely on the evidence.
Edited for Death
Amy Hobbes never expected to solve anything tougher than a
crossword puzzle. When she left her job as a journalist in Southern California,
she planned to give the adrenaline a rest, but her next job, managing editor of
a local newspaper, delivers some surprises. After a respected Senator and World
War II hero dies and two more people turn up dead, the news heats up. Both
victims had ties to a hotel owned by the Senator's family. With the help of
reporter pal Clarice and the new man in her life, Phil, Amy uncovers a number
of shadowy figures, including a Holocaust survivor who's spent sixty years
tracking down Nazi loot. It's a complex and dangerous puzzle, but Amy can't walk
away until she solves it.
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10 comments:
Thanks for hosting me, Anastasia. It was an interesting experience and the killer is going to be sentenced Friday. One of my fellow jurors is going to the hearing and I may go, as well.
You're welcome, Michele. We're always happy to have you stop by.
Wow, Michele, that rings true to a lot of what I endured for several years in my first marriage and what happened with his second wife to a degree. I would find it difficult to not think about the child. I am an emotional person and my emotions tend to lead me--that would be difficult especially with what I've been through personally. Thanks for sharing your story! Jodi Rath
Interesting experience Michele. I was always afraid of being called to a murder trial, afraid it would be emotionally draining. But you seem to have handled it like a learning experience. Like Jodi, I would have been concerned about the child. I think maybe because as writers we explore the why as well as the what, the emotional distance would be hard to maintain.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I've never sat on a big deal one. I've been called to sit on panels (in fact, Troy Aikman was called the same day as me). I find the process slow, but fascinating.
I worked on several death penalty trials as part of a defense team and on behalf of the whole world: we need impartial jurors to make the whole thing work! We need witnesses to tell what they know, even if it's bad, not to get "someone off" from prison but to make sure the defendant gets a fair trial and the rest of us get justice. Go to the sentencing, see it all! Know that the rest of us are holding your hand! (and yes, I write about my cases!) Laura Hernandez
Great post, Michele. Fascinating insight into the jury process. And such a sad situation, too.
Wow, thanks Jody, Judy, Laura and Barb! It's difficult to take to emotion out, but necessary to judge the act solely on the evidence.
Vicki, you stiLl might get called. The problem is you don't know what the trial is for until you're at least seated in the courtroom.
Fascinating inside look at your jury experience, Michele!
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