Castle Shima

Me? I'm their man in Nirvana. I'm their technical support. I'm... Oh my God! I'm the tin dog!
-- Mickey from Doctor Who: School Reunion

::: Tower View :::
Anti-Climatic
We went into the final day believing that the last few things remaining were to hear closing arguements. The youngest juror, JP, was estatic. All week he had been complaining, saying comments like "This is stupid. I shouldnt be here doing this crap. This guy shouldnt even have to go thru this and just be let go when his time is up." So now he was able to get out of this mess and go on with his life.

Then he asked the rest of us why Ronnie wasnt allowed to testified. A few of us laughed. I even replied "Are you kidding? The State will eat him alive!"

So imagine our surprise when the first thing that occurs is that Fleschmann calls Ronnie to the stand.

Of course Ronnie is happy. In his words, he done some wrong things in the past, but he done made up for by doing his time. He was going to be going home soon. Fleschmann did his best to portray Ronnie as a remorseful convict who would go straight.

Then the State tore him a new one.

When the State attorney asked about his treatment of Sheila, Ronnie said "Well we was into the rough stuff. She really liked it. I even had put a banana up in her."

Ok, I will admit it. I had to suppress a laugh from that comment because the first thing that I wondered was they did it with or without the peel.

When the State attorney showed pictures of Sheila's injuries, the most he could say was "Like I said, she was into the rough stuff. The more I beat her the more she loved me. She really wanted me. She's even said she would leave whoever she was with for me."

The State attorney even asked "Do all those women want you, sir?"

"Oh yah, they want me. Every woman I've met wanted me. I really cant blame them." Thats when the State showed a picture of Ronnie, in his glorious mullet, and replied "Oh of course sir."

With the topic of Denise's attack, Ronnie said "Well now, she done got me hooked on that crack cocaine. So when we go off get drunk and get high, then have sex. I liked her because she liked the rough stuff, just not as much as Sheila did."

There were just so many other comments that I had to stifle my laughter. A few of the others had to do the same.

"Well, sir. If you are released, what would be the first thing you would want to do?"
"I know my family will want to go out. Have dinner and such. I'm sure my friends and I will want to celebrate."
"Would you drink?"
"I might have one or two. Nothing too fancy."
"But didnt you get in trouble when you were drinking? When you took drugs?"
"Well yeah, but that was a long time ago. I know I'm not the same person."
"But you havent taken any kind of treatment for these things?"
"I really didnt need them."
"If Sheila came to see you, would you let her visit?"
"Oh yeah. She's still a good looking woman. We wouldnt do nothing, but we could talk."

The closing arguements finally came around and summed up each side's opinion. For Fleschmann, although Ronnie was a domestic abuser, he was not a sexual predator, and saying that he would offend again was only a guess. We could never be sure whether or not, he would likely to offend.

For the State, they showed a simple timeline, noting that Ronnie was a repeat offender that treated women like objects to prey upon. That not only is he most likely to offend again, but escalate in his violence.

The judge told us the points of law we were to discuss, the main one being that if we as a jury believed that the Respondent would be likely to offend again, we would state this and he would committed for an extended time frame for treatment. We had no say in what kind of treatment or for how long.

As opposed to a criminal case, we could have a split jury. If the majority believed that Ronnie would likely offend, then he could be committed for treatment, but he could take it back to court to dispute. If the majority believed that he would not be likely to offend, then it was his choice to take that treatment or not and could be released at his regular time, which was in Febuary 2007.

So off we went for deliberations. For the first vote, it was 6 to 1 in the belief that he would likely offend again. We all knew who the one was: The nineteen year old, JP.

His belief was that "He's already done his time. You heard that doctor Cectes. He's an abuser, not a predator. There is no reason why he should go back because of some psycho chick. You got to feel sorry for this guy."

Actually no, we dont. Sympathy isnt supposed to make a difference here.

The rest of us believed that Ronnie was going back to the exact same environment that got him in trouble in the first place: the girlfriend who would go back to him, the drinking, the drugs, and most importantly, the family that would either turn a blind eye or pay off anyone that got in the way.

For hours we discussed this, trying to get JP's opinion without the sympathy. His constant whine was "We should be able to say what kind of treatment he gets. He's an abuser, not a predator. You have to feel sorry because you know part of it was her fault cause she kept going back to him."

We could have gone on with the split decision, but that would have meant someone else would have to go thru this kind of trial. After all, Ronnie would have gone back to court to dispute the treatment.

After another hour of getting JP not to feel sympathetic, he agreed that as an abuser with that crazy family and crazy girl in his life, he would more than likely do it again. The turning point?

Foreman: When he gets out, what is the first thing he is going to do?
JP: He'll go out with his buddies and get drunk.
Foreman: Do you think he'll get high?
JP: Hell yeah, I would..
Juror#3: And do you think Sheila will be waiting for him when he gets out?
JP: Yeah, she's pretty much said so...
Juror#3: So when they both get drunk and high together, what do you think is going to happen?
JP: Well...

And with that, there was unanimous vote to send Ronnie back under civil commitment for treatment.

The points of law were abit more specific than what I detailed here, but hopefully I got the gist of it out properly. Although there was some very slow points during the trial, overall I really did enjoy myself. Not only did I meet some interesting people in the jurors, I got a first hand look at the system, good or bad, regardless of what you believe in the outcome.

This could have been an episode right out of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

How many of us get to say that?
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::: Out In The Yard :::
The top 10 ways you know when a woman is flirting with you. #11 - She asks you if the panties she is removing look better on her or on the floor.
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::: Background Noise :::
Kick Some Ass by Stroke 9

How many people are sick of holding back?
I am, I am...
How many people want to kick some ass?
I would if I could...
But I'm really just a sensative artist
Portrayed that I'm as being the hottest
Acting like I'm not the smartest,
But I'm just an sensative artist
Honest...

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* But I'm a creep
* I'm a weirdo
* What the hell am I doing here?
* I dont belong here
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