November 24, 2010 06:49 AM UTC

The hardest job I've ever done

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• by: jpsandscl

(JPSandscl says this dairy, about his recent jury service, “isn’t really political.”  He’s wrong on that point — serving on a jury where you literally weigh the life, liberty and property of a fellow citizen is in fact the highest form of citizenship and, thus, truly politics in the highest sense.   – promoted by Voyageur)

UPDATE: Travis Anderson was sentenced today to 40 years for the murder of his child, plus six more years for the child abuse. He was eligible for 48 years on the murder. Many family and friends came to give character witness for Travis, but I agree with the judge- the boy or man they knew was not the same man who killed his child that night.

Rest in peace Sean Anderson.

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I know this isn’t really political, but I just wanted to share this…

I just finished one of the most exhausting ordeals of my life- I served on jury to try a man charged with first degree murder in connection with his twenty day old son’s death. There were several other charges included in the trial too, including child abuse resulting in death and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.

The first day I went in for the selection process, I was stunned when I heard the charges read. It was a shock to realize not only that this wasn’t some minor offense, but also that it involved the death of a very young child, an infant even. I could only think of my own children and imagine the horror I would feel if anything like that had ever happened to either of them.

We had to look at evidence and listen to testimony during the trial which was very grisly. We had to view pictures of this poor baby after they had to remove it’s skull in an attempt to allow sufficient room for the brain to swell without further injury. We had to see the bruises and the surgical scars and hear medical testimony about what the baby was like when brought to the hospital. It was all horrible.

And then we also had to listen to the mother who at best did far too little to save her sons life give testimony against the father. She had already been convicted of felony child abuse resulting in death and is serving a fourteen year sentence for that. We had to hear how the parents were more concerned with stolen property they had received the night their son was lying near death than they were about their son’s life.

Finally, we had to decide whether the state had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt that the father inflicted the injuries which led to the baby’s death. Multiple skull fractures (three of them) either all received at once or over a very short period of time.

We convicted him on two counts, but we couldn’t agree to first degree murder (that he acted knowingly to injure his son that way). Even though most of us thought he had, we hadn’t thought the state proved its case. So we convicted him of manslaughter instead as we all viewed it at a minimum as a reckless disregard for his son’s life.

Every night since this trial began I have awoken in the middle of the night and been unable to get back to sleep. The thoughts of the testimony and evidence we heard wouldn’t leave me any peace.

I am glad it is over. I’m going to bed now.