Monster

The trial/sentencing I was a juror for is, at least here in Dallas, a high profile case. While I won't be talking in detail about this, I thought I would post what the news reported about it to give you a little more insight. Thankfully, what you hear here is a watered down version.

Again, and I say this only because I had to defend our decision to a friend, I stand by our decision to give this man two life sentences. What I neglected to say in the last post was that this is the worst case that many of the witnesses (professionals, such as doctors, therapists, etc. that have dealt with hundreds to thousands of sexual abuse cases) have ever seen. The doctor who examines children for signs of sexual abuse even cried on the stand.

**CLARIFICATION**In the below video, they incorrectly state that he may spend the rest of his life in prison, but, despite receiving life, he will not spend the rest of his life in an actual prison. The maximum number of years is 35, with the possible opportunity of being released on parole in half that time, but no matter when he is released, he will be on parole for life. Parole is the only thing that is for life.

Okay, so I can't post the video cause it's copyright infringement or some other shit. Click here to read the story and see the video.

I must first applaud Mandy Griffith (one of the state prosecuters) for impressive work as one of the prosecutors. She was, simply put, brilliant. She adapted very well to every twist, new discovery and witness. For the latter, she took on a southern accent when talking to the bastard's mother and step-father, to make them feel more comfortable since they are from a smaller town and spoke similar.

As for the defense attorny, Heath Harris (no relation to his client), I initially thought that there is no way that I would ever consider letting this man defend me if the need arised. He was horrible. He wasn't paying attention, he would ask pointless questions (not once, but multiple times), he never had questions prepared when it was his turn with a witness (even when said witness was HIS!), he referred to the defendant's wife as Mandy (it's actually Candi) so often that the prosecutor (whose name is Mandy) had to ask the judge to have him start using the correct name, and, most of all, he gave us more reasons to not give his client probation (as he wanted us to) than the prosecutors. He even yelled and talked down to his own witnesses.

After it all, some of the jurors were discussing the defense attorney. It was agreed that he knew that his client was guilty (he did confess after all), he knew his client did these horrible, unspeakable things, and he is a father. Why would he even try to truly defend this person? That being said, I still would not want him as my attorney.