Well the verdict is in. Guilty on all 5 counts... on counts 1,2 and 5 attempted murder. Count 3 .. Guilty on assault with a deadly weapon. Count 4 .. Guilty of 1st degree murder. What a very interesting 2 weeks its been... I have learned more about gangs than i ever wanted to know.. Knowing that there is one less gang member out there terrorizing the neighborhoods is a very good feeling.. I was an alternate in this case so i was not involved at all in the deliberation.. I still enjoyed the whole thing.. i met some really neat people and ate lunch with the best.. Of all the jury duties i have done this was by far the best, the co-jurors i served with, the Judge, the Temp. court clerk, the stenographer and the deputies. They made it worth while. Well now as for the defendant... he is a 20 ish gang banger with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove... a very short temper. Counts 1 and 2 happened up at the Slam dunk bar, The 2 guys who were already there came in contact with him.. the older guy even bought him a drink after he returned with the proper ID.. later that evening as the 2 victims left the bar the older guy stopped to talk to the bouncer. His buddy goes out trash talks to the guy, the older guy tells the gang banger guy hey my buddy is not worth it, he's drunk... Well the next thing the older guys hears is "No don't do it".. looks over and sees the gang banger pull a pistol from his waist and shoot at his buddy, it hits his finger and ricochets into his stomach.. The gang banger next tries to shoot the older guy by putting the gun over the door only to have the guy slam the door into him and he takes off.. The guy who was shot survives. About a month later the gang banger gets into an argument, over money owed on a gun, the one used at the bar, with one of his home boys girl friend, she walks out to him as he is sitting in his car and hits his girl friend and then starts to yell at him so he tries to run her over. This is count 3... she goes up on the car and breaks off the windshield wiper as he breaks to get her off.. Now he is pissed off.. His home boy did not control his girl friend so that nite he and some other home boys take him to an area and He shoots him dead... once in the head... count 4 and a few years later in prison he sees a gang member who had testified against another gang member in a police shooting.. also know as a rat.. they are fair game so he stabbed him while on the exercise yard in prison.. count 5... the prosecutor did a fantastic job presenting the case, it flowed well, had a good structure with his points proven. The defendant also bragged in letters to his girl friend and buddy about what he had done and even said i am guilty of all 3 counts. He even underlined ALL in the letter. What an idiot this was the most damaging evidence because it just backed up all the other stories and hard facts.. Now as for the defense lawyer.... well i would never want him, too nice. He missed a lot of things that he should have at least expanded on. When the defence rested the defendant could not believe him. He lost control and asked the judge if he could say something and started to yell at his attorney.. The judge told us to go into the jury room now and wait.. the last thing i heard was his attorney saying now you want to tell me some secrets.. after that episode the judge had the jurors go into the jury room to deliberate and the alternates, another guy and girl and myself go to the jury pool room and wait.. We waited an hour and half... the verdict was in. The court was loaded with sheriff deputies and they read the verdict.. Guilty on all 5 counts.... I cannot wait till my next jury summons... probably in a year....well my two week vacation from work is now over..
