Jury Duty
October 19, 2008 | 12:21 am | Blog | Girly | 0
The case was a real doozy. Domestic assault, and the woman recanted her story following the man’s arrest.
I made it to voir dire. I thought I knew what to expect, but I was wrong. The DA, an extremely good-looking 30-something with a Carolinan drawl and a bow-tie around his neck, asked the pool questions about the 5th Amendment, the language of law, people’s particular biases regarding property and innocence. I sat smugly while several men opined that evoking the right not to self-incriminated automatically made a person look guilty. The DA was a real smooth-talker. Charming and likable. A good lawyer.
I thought to myself that if I made it to the trial I would be as even-handed as possible. As a feminist I am obligated to give him the benefit of the doubt, because it is true that some women have made up these stories. But how does a court prosecute a case when neither the victim nor the defendant is willing to take the stand. And furthermore, are these cases even worth trying?
This one made me think real hard. On the one hand, assuming what happened really did happen, then a crime has been committed regardless of whether the victim will admit it. On the other hand, there are many reasons why a woman might not want her significant other to be taken to jail (fear of retribution being the least of them). I’m already a little bit wary of inviting the government into the personal lives of every day people and in a way this seems like a step too far. On the third hand, perhaps I could be a voice for victims who can’t have a voice of their own?
I am still working out in my head how I feel about all this. What do you think? The case was interesting and I would have liked to sit for it, but I was cut when asked if I’d ever had a negative experience with a police officer. A few days later I got a check for $6 in the mail, a check which probably cost the city more than $6 to write, print and mail.
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