On Monday, October 5th, I and eighty-nine other prospective jurors entered the Crighton Theater in Conroe, TX expecting to be sent home in short order because...well...they won't pick me. Surely they won't.
We sat and listened to both sides of the counsel describe what type of juror they were looking for. They wanted someone who would be fair and just. They wanted someone who could listen to the facts and reach a verdict based solely on those facts. The administration of justice, after all, is what's important in a court of law.
Myself and thirteen others were chosen to sit on the jury. Myself and thirteen others were unhappy about being chosen. On Tuesday morning we listened to the charges that were being brought against the defendant. Two counts of aggravated sexual assault against a child. Count one charged the defendant with penetrating an eight year old girl's vagina with his penis, count two charged the same defendant with penetrating an eight year old girl's anus with his penis. Upon hearing the charges, myself and thirteen others felt discust like none we had felt before towards a man we had never met. "Remember", said the judge, "he is presumed innocent until the State of Texas proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty."
After hearing four days of testimony, after receiving all evidence, and after roughly six hours of deliberation...myself and thirteen others found the defendant guilty on both counts of aggravated sexual assault against a child. Myself and thirteen others then deliberated another three hours to rule that the defendant should receive a punishment of sixty years in prison for each charge. For the mathematically challenged, that's 120 years of confinement in the Texas prison system. He will be eligible for parole in sixty years at the age of ninety-one.
The decision was difficult, one of the most difficult I have ever been involved with. There were tears of anger, discust, and despair shed in that jury room today. It's a difficult task, administering justice. None of us asked to be this man's jury, we reluctantly served our great state because it was the task placed before us. One man's life was taken away tonight, one twelve year old girl's life was taken away starting at the age of five and maybe tonight was the beginning of rebuilding what has been stolen by a sick, perverted scumbag.
One man will never hurt a child again. One twelve year old girl can begin her life without the fear of this man assaulting her again. Myself and thirteen others? We will sleep well tonight knowing that justice has been served.
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