A first time for everything

The title of this post is a bit of a mantra in tyring new things, unless that involves vegetables that double as a fungus.
Over the four years I have now been in media, I have definitely had a rare perspective on a wide variety of topics.
This week I stumbled upon my first murder trial as a reporter. I decided to check the courthouse annex to see if anything else was going on, since my other reporter was covering a particularly vicious case with three pedophiles. I had been in court several times when permitted to photograph defendants in high profile local cases, most recently our Parker trial which garnered enough attention that it will be on 48 Hours Mysteries in the next few weeks or so. This time it was as a reporter, and I must say it is a tedious task that is difficult at times, and boring at others. Quoting the D.A. and the public defender are difficult due to the lack of recorders and the fact that I have forgotten shorthand many years ago.

As a trial goes on, it is necessary to send the jury out for different reasons. Which allows for the judge to start another case. Which brought about a drug dealer with a few crack rocks. Nothing teribly interesting about the case, except for the lengths that attorneys will go to try and get an acquital.

But the moment of the process that stood out for me was during jury selection. Probably about 50 people from around the county, three of which I knew. I have never been through the experience myself, so it was interesting to watch the selection process. But prior to the bellows of "Content" and "Dismissed" by the two lawyers. One of the potential jurors tried his best to avoid being chosen. His clothing choice was a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and a pair of jeans which would wasn't too far out of the ordinary. However when he choose to ride his "heelies" shoes down the aisle like an eleven-year-old at ToysRus during one of the judges recesses, I bust out laughing, which drew attention to the skater, which was probably about 23 years old. I needed that laugh, because much of the down time in that case was spent talking to the grandfather of the victim in my case.
He opened up with family stories, I was surprised at his candor with me which of course was all off the record.
I felt like telling him to brace the family, because I suspected it wasn't going to go the way he wanted, but I didn't... not my place to interfere.
http://www.catwalkchatt.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Mark+White+murder+trial+continues+today+in+Walker+County%20&id=4976444-Mark+White+murder+trial+continues+today+in+Walker+County

The trial lasted a little over a day and a half, however the deliberations would last more than two days. The case hinged on 12 peoples interpretation of self defense. Fortunately I was not on that jury, or we would have been their longer than two days, and maybe wound up hung.


The jury verdict was not guilty on four counts, and hung on two other counts. The rational I still don't understand after interviewing three of the jurors. They went self defense from the start, which I could reason, however I didn't reasonably see where they thought the defendant was in mortal danger. The two murder charges might have been a stretch, but I would have found guilty on the other four charges.

So this week I am back to my usual beats, which are a bit slow at the moment. Time to run around and take photos of Christmas displays around the county.